An American Idiot in Thedas
by wcv
Summary: A standard college student from our world finds himself transported into the world of Thedas. After nearly getting killed he is dragged into helping the Wardens stop the Blight. Rated T for violence.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: The first thing I should say is an explanation of the title. This work is being told as if it was, at least in part, being written by a person who honestly is tired of any kind of fame and is trying to downplay the popular thought process of what happened in the coming events, whether correctly or incorrectly. As for the rest, the stuff I have with me is actually based on stuff I actually was wearing and/or had on my person one day.**

Chapter One

I swung the saber experimentally again. "Yes, that will do it." My best friend, Mackenzie and I were getting ready for our standard dueling practice, not really dueling since the swords weren't sharp but playing with swords is always kind of fun. Even as we readied ourselves a roaring started. I glanced over at my friend and he shrugged. "Don't look at me Will. I didn't forget anything this time."

I rolled my eyes, sheathed the blade, and covered my ears. As I did so a burst of light followed and I was knocked over as a boom followed. Feeling returned slowly and I could tell whatever I was lying on was different than the concrete of Mackenzie's patio.

My vision cleared a few moments later and I found myself inside a ruin. It had recent signs of habitation, but nothing that suggested any kind of rebuilding was going on. Rather there was a pair of two men standing over two bodies. As I listened one said, "What a shame. They seemed to be shaping up to be fine wardens. It seems more die each time."

The other one nodded, "Indeed, they were good recruits. We needed as many Wardens as we could get right now. Oh well, we shall just have to tell the king the Joining failed and these three will not be up for the battle. Their families will be notified. At least those that still have them."

They turned and saw me for the first time. The older one looked at me and said, "Who are you and how long have you been standing there?" As he was speaking they both took swords off their backs.

As they did so I reached down toward the saber currently belted to my waste, not that I had much chance against two armored and trained opponents. Not then and likely not now. "I just got here. I don't know how but I didn't see anything."

Duncan nodded and put his sword back in place. "Well it doesn't matter that much at this point anyway. When we win the battle we can conscript him." He paused here and glanced at me, I was rather overweight at the time, not dressed for battle, and honestly out of shape. Also I had a rather nasty cold at the time. Needless to say I was not the most fearsome warrior in Ferelden (an image I cultivate to this day.)

Duncan sighed and muttered under his breath, "Much good it will likely do us." He continued louder, "As for now: Alistair, take our… guest back to the fire and make sure he stays out of trouble."

Alistair nodded, "Yes Duncan." He then turned to me and said, "You, come with me." At that point my only weapons were a cavalry saber badly in need of sharpening and a revolver with only a dozen bullets; it seemed like a prudent course of action to follow him.

The Ferelden army camp was large to say the least. They had raised about seventeen thousand men for this battle, which meant the darkspawn only outnumbered the Fereldens by about 2:1 at this stage in the Blight. For those of you born after the Blight ended, those are extremely good odds. Fortunately, this was still an early stage Darkspawn eruption, and a southern one at that; the ogres were virtually nonexistent, just a few dozen in the entire Darkspawn horde, whereas later there would be hundreds.

The Grey Wardens' fire was rather large, too large to be honest, but I was too scared and a little excited to mention it at the time. Alistair settled into leaning against a pillar near the fire, while I hung back a little farther. He finally looked over at me and said, "what kind of sword is that?"

I drew it out, and answered, "It's a cavalry saber, I forget the name right off hand."

He came over and took the sword, swinging it experimentally a few times, "So you're a cavalryman?"

I snorted. "No. I'm terrified of horses."

Alistair looked at me in a way that pretty clearly said are you serious, but he actually answered, "Then why do you have a cavalry saber?"

I shrugged, "I have fencing class next semester, and wanted to get some practice in before school started."

Again Alistair looked rather confused but hid it well, instead testing the sharpness of the sword. "This is rather dull" (an understatement really. It wouldn't be able to cut through a piece of paper let alone anything else) "if you would like, I could get it sharpened."

I was rather excited at this, being transported into a video game is a fantasy for everyone I suspect (don't worry you won't get that for a couple hundred years) and actually taking part was an amazing prospect. I answered, "Sure, I guess."

He nodded and waved over one of the elven servants, "Boy, go get one of the Warden smiths to sharpen this. Make it fast." The servant nodded and ran, off with the holding the naked sword.

I frowned, "What about the sheath?"

Alistair looked puzzled, "The what?"

I raised the sheath of the weapon, which I could take off using snap-on hooks, "this. He probably needs it to avoid hurting anyone."

Alistair frowned, "never heard of one. The smith will wrap it up."

Lowering the sheath I rolled my eyes, "whatever."

We talked for several more minutes, and I will admit at the time I was excited for what was coming. Playing a video game is one thing, but actually living it is something far greater. Battles at the time held a fascination for a lot of the students of history where I come from, mainly because most of us never see them.

Finally Duncan arrived and he looked cross. Alistair stood up straighter and asked, "How did the meeting go?"

Duncan grimaced, "Cailan won't wait for reinforcements. Hopefully Loghain's plan will work." He quickly outlined the details when I interrupted.

"It won't." They looked over at me and Duncan asked, "What?"

I shrugged, "Loghain is planning treason, he will abandon you all to die."

Duncan stared at me, "that is a serious accusation, and why should I believe you."

I considered that question carefully before answering, "You shouldn't, and in your place I would not. Regardless it is true. Everyone here is going to die."

Alistair was the first to answer, "Okay, how could you possibly know that?"

I was silent for a few moments before answering, "I can see the future." Honestly it was the best answer I could come up with. I don't think the explanation I had played through these events several times would make for much of an answer.

Duncan looked at me for a couple of moments then answered, "No one would be stupid enough to commit treason during a Blight. We will discuss this later. In the meantime Alistair, take our guest with you to the Tower of Ishal, we might need to keep an eye on him. Make sure he gets some kind of armor before the fighting starts."

Alistair did a half-bow and said, "yes Duncan."

With that over Duncan left to join the other Wardens. Shortly thereafter the elven boy ran up. He handed the sword to me by the cloth it was wrapped in. I drew it out and looked at it. This sword hadn't been sharp for a long time, but now a certain life was restored to it. The sword was only two pounds in weight, making it far lighter than any longsword used by my peers. With a fluid motion I put the sword back in the sheath, this was followed up by checking the revolver, it was currently unloaded, something I planned to change when the fighting started.

With that done Alistair led me over to the armory. Ferelden was still using the method of forcing the conscipts to pay for their own weapons and armor, fortunately Alistair had quite a bit of money on hand. With it he bought me a chainmail suit. After a short explanation of how to wear it I put the chainmail on… and collapsed.

Alistair shook his head, "seriously? If you are going to be the newest warden we are utterly screwed aren't we?"

I meanwhile just started trying to get up, which took several minutes. Finally I was back on my feet, and managed to stand, "sorry, I just didn't realize how much chainmail weighs. Movies really don't get that point across."

Alistair just blinked at me, "what?"

"Never mind."

With the mail on though, I put my coat on over it and swapped the chainmail shoes for my boots, they were steel-toed made in my home. The coat went to my knees and fit snuggly over the chainmail. Now I was ready for battle, or so I thought at least.

With this done Alistair led me across the camp to the bridge, and below us the battle was starting. There were archers and ballistae lining the bridge, while below us the King's army deployed in a tight line formation, such as it was. From the forest came the darkspawn; hundreds then thousands advanced out of the Korcari Wilds. The officer on top of the bridge brought his sword down and the archers let loose their first volley, three seconds later the second volley was loosed. Over the next minute twenty volleys of arrows were released into the ranks of the darkspawn horde. Below us another officer shouted for the hounds to be released. Several dozen mabari warhounds charged across the open grounds, slamming into the front ranks of the darkspawn and ripping throats out.

With that Alistair nodded toward the other side of the bridge and the Tower of Ishal. "That's where we have to go. Let's start."

I followed him across the bridge, dodging fireballs that were aimed at destroying the ballistae. One impacted when we were about two-thirds of the way across the bridge, knocking Alistair down. I had known it was coming and thrown myself to the ground to avoid most of the shockwave. Even so it was a horrible blow, and it took about a minute to recover. Alistair was on his feet before me and rushed toward the end of the bridge, and the relative safety of the fortifications. I caught up when adrenaline gave me some ability to sprint the remainder of the way.

We were sitting there, me catching my breath and Alistair looking very put upon. "Are you honestly this pathetic by accident?" he asked me.

I puffed, "Sorry, running for my life isn't exactly a standard occurrence where I come from. I haven't run in years for anything other than sport."

Alistair rolled his eyes. "Never mind then" (that was one of my many bad habits Alistair picked up over the years). "Let's just keep going."

He made his way up the hill to the gate. I huffed and puffed along several feet behind.

Let me explain for a moment exactly what the Tower of Ishal is. With Harrowmont's plans to rebuild Ostagar as a Grey Warden fortress it likely won't be there for much longer. The tower was the center of the mages' control during the old days of the Tevinter Imperium. Mages have the rather bad habit of constructing huge towers, the only explanation I have ever heard was mages hold an innate instinct to build a tower for themselves. It explains quite a bit of Tevinter History. Anyway, the Tower had almost ten stories, but only a few of them are still accessible. Using magic the Ferelden plan called for a beacon on the top of the Tower of Ishal to be lit, because for some reason a giant beacon lit by people who cannot see what is happening is better than an order given by a man who can actually see what is going on.

Lighting this beacon was our main goal, not that anything we ever do goes as planned. As we approached the gates they slammed open and ten soldiers ran out. Following them was a mage. He looked like he would rather have not volunteered for this war, a sentiment I can most definitely understand.

Alistair looked at them and demanded, "what is going on here?"

One of the men, a sergeant by the looks of him, answered, "The darkspawn broke through our defenses. They have utterly overwhelmed our forces inside."

Alistair answered, "how many?"

The sergeant again answered, "Several hundred at least. "

"How many of our troops are left?" This was my first time to speak. It was also what Alistair would need to know if he was to make a decision.

Another of the soldiers spoke up this time, "Maybe fifty scattered around the entrance. I doubt anyone inside is still alive."

I looked at Alistair and said, "well my Lord. What do you plan to do?"

He gave me a funny look, but let it slide. "We advance in. The King needs that signal."

The soldiers nodded. They started to walk back in when I said, "Wait a moment."

They stopped. Alistair looked at me, quite clearly fed up, "What is it now."

I nodded at them. "March in a line. Keep the shields together and attack the Darkspawn to your right. Cover the man to your left with your shield. The most experienced man goes on the right side of the line."

The men started to question that but Alistair saw the intention, "do it. We are going to need to be well-organized if this is going to be pulled off successfully."

The men this time followed orders without too much grumbling. Alistair had that effect on people, he had to, to lead the country through not one, but two wars successfully and oversee the beginning of Ferelden's industrialization.

As the soldiers formed up the mage pulled his staff out and did some mumbo-jumbo. As he finished all our swords burst into flames. The others took it in stride, me not so much. With a little "EEP" I dropped the sword and jumped backwards from it. Alistair gave a sigh. It was obvious he had half-expected it, but still was rather exasperated."Oh for Andraste's sake. The fire won't hurt the wielder of the sword."

I just looked at him, "What about convection?"

"What about what?"

"Oh, never mind." I gingerly picked up the sword, half expecting my skin to burst into flames. It didn't.

Alistair waited and then said, "are we done?"

I nodded, still keeping the flames well away from all of me. We moved in. Almost immediately darkspawn rushed us. The men stood in line as had been planned. Each darkspawn that got near the line was killed. With this formation in place we rapidly cut our way into ranks of the darkspawn. Within just a few minutes fifty darkspawn had fallen, and we hadn't lost a single man. This had effectively secured the lower ground around the Tower of Ishal, leaving us free to search the area for any survivors. There were none.

I however had my first view of what exactly a battle looks like. Most of those who might see this can't understand the horror of it. When a human dies all their bodily functions cease, whether that is breathing, thinking, or as most people don't realize: holding in their excrement. The field stunk of human waste and blood. Combined with this was the stink of the darkspawn. Honestly at this point there was only one thing to do, I vomited.

After finishing I pulled some paper towel out of my coat pocket and wiped my mouth out. The rest of the soldiers looked on with expressions somewhere between sympathy and contempt. All of them had seen quite a bit of death for years, I had seen it exactly four times. None of it in battle.

Finally I stood straight up again and we advanced up the stairs to the second area below the tower. Up here eight soldiers were fighting against fifty darkspawn. They were obviously losing, but our line moved forward. The line penetrated the group of darkspawn, killing eighteen of them. The soldiers unfortunately lost discipline and started advancing in no line against the group of darkspawn.

Fourteen darkspawn abandoned their first group of prey and rounded on us just as discipline disentigrated. Two shrieks lept upon a soldier and began ripping him apart. Alistair lept into the fray there, his shield slamming one in the face as he stabbed the second in the gut, with another swift motion he slammed the sword into the back of the first, killing it.

As this happened one of the hurlocks charged toward me. This was the first time I had ever been in combat, ever. The Hurlock neared and brought its blade down. The blade slammed into the chainmail with its edge. I very nearly collapsed from the force of the blow, but fortunately the rings stopped most of the damage. With a snarl of pure adrenaline I brought my sword up in both hands and brought it down on the hurlock's head. The blade came down and penetrated the skull.

I felt a surge of triumph and pulled the blade free. Rather I tried to pull the blade free. It had gotten stuck in the Hurlock's head and took several seconds to wriggle out. By the time I finished the fight was over.

Alistair looked over at me, "Well, congratulations You managed to kill your first darkspawn. To be honest most of it came down to luck and you are obviously the most unskilled swordsman I have ever seen."

I looked at him, rather annoyed. "Well, how should I attack?"

Alistair thought for a moment. "Keep your sword closer and remember, chainmail works well against darkspawn swords. They are made for cutting, not stabbing. If the beast is thinner and has a more obvious point make sure to try to either get your sword in the way, or dodge it. Otherwise it might hurt, but a cut from these swords won't be life-threatening." With his little lesson done Alistair motioned toward the upper level. "Well, only one more. Then who knows how many darkspawn inside the Tower itself." The men groaned but got back into line.

The last fight had taught them the difference between disciplined fighting and individuals. We moved up the stairs and found thirty darkspawn coming out of the tower.

What followed wasn't even a fight. The darkspawn charged and the soldiers braced themselves. The darkspawn hit the line and were knocked backwards by the soldiers' shields. With that done the soldiers began stabbing forward. Darkspawn fell in front of them and soon enough they were all dead.

Darkspawn require a rather different strategy than killing a person. People can be injured enough to stop fighting, darkspawn cannot. People will surrender, darkspawn will not. They are the ultimate enemy of mankind, more so than the Qunari could ever hope to be. When a person fights darkspawn soldiers bayonet each body in the throat just to make sure.

We didn't realize that at the time, or at least no one thought of it. Instead we proceeded up the tower steps only to hear charging behind us. We all turned together to see a dozen darkspawn. I cursed, mainly because I was the one closest to the darkspawn. The soldiers moved up alongside me and we met the darkspawn's charge. That is to say they met the darkspawn's charge and I stepped aside. The darkspawn coming toward me kept going, and I brought the saber up. The blade cut through the flesh of the darkspawn's throat, before sliding off the bone.

The blade came out sort of vibrating, a consequence of lacking hand strength. Even so the darkspawn was dead. Around me the rest of the soldiers had finished off the others. Alistair looked down at the corpses and ordered, "take their heads off. We can't afford to be interrupted again."

The other soldiers brought their weapons down on necks and cut through them. I didn't. Rather I again attempted to retch. Fortunately by this time there wasn't anything left in my stomach and a few moments later we advanced into the tower proper.

The lower level was a wreck. Wooden support beams had been destroyed and were scattered around the entranceway. The entrance was a trap. Immediately upon walking in a fireball lanced out of the exit of the entrance hall and slammed into three of the soldiers. Our mage, who had been avoiding battle until now responded. A fireball lanced back toward the source and there was an explosion in the room up ahead. As he did so the flames on our weapons went out, offensive and support spells cannot be maintained at the same time. Realizing we were being bottlenecked Alistair motioned us forward. The soldiers burst out of the entrance hall and into the rotunda of the first level. A Genlock Emissary was lying there, burned black from the fireball that had hit him.

Other corpses, human and darkspawn were scattered around the area as well. Even so several other darkspawn remained alive. They charged and the mage spun his staff around and blasted a wall of fire toward them. The survivors kept coming, but met the swords of the Ferelden soldiers. Six darkpawn fell before sixteen swords (fifteen soldiers and Alistair's).

A quick decapitation for each one settled the fight. With a quick motion the eighteen of us moved on. The next room was much the same, with darkspawn falling as a solid wall of shields and swords advanced. Behind that wall was the mage and myself.

Up and up through the tower we went, story after story. Small groups of soldiers were rescued from the clutches of the horde, but even so by the time we reached the top our group had only grown to 26 soldiers, Alistair, our mage, and myself.

What was waiting for us was a horror. The ogres were rightly feared during the Blight. Groups of them had very nearly spelled defeat in later battles that took place. This one was alone, thankfully.

We advanced, the soldiers holding their shields up. The ogre was not impressed. It turned from where the body of a soldier had been being disemboweled and charged at us. The soldiers tried to stand their ground, but the ogre ripped straight through them. Eight men were sent flying in that first charge, killing them all instantly. Three more were injured badly. With a swipe to the side the ogre picked up another man and bashed him into one of his companions. Another group of men advanced on it while four of others took out their crossbows, shooting the ogre in the back.

It roared and whirled, straight into the waiting swords of those who had come up on it. Their swords stabbed into the ogre's chest. Black blood spurted out from the wounds, but the ogre was mainly just annoyed by this. It grabbed another man and slammed him into the remaining soldiers as more crossbow bolts hit the creature in the head.

The ogre turned toward them and charged. As it did so Alistair leapt toward its unprotected back. His sword penetrated the tendons of its lower right leg. The ogre fell as the right leg gave out from the sword blow. The beast stayed down for less than a moment before pushing itself back up and forcing onwards toward the crossbowmen who fired again. One lucky shot penetrated the left eye. It roared again, grabbing one crossbowman and slammed a fist into his chest. His chainmail tore and his rib cage collapsed. The man gasped once, but with his lungs punctured the man died almost immediately.

It grabbed toward another man, but used the wrong arm and missed by several inches. As it did so our mage muttered a few quick words and a jet of flame shot out of the end of his staff, setting the ogre's hair on fire. The beast's second eye failed it and Alistair stabbed it again, this time in the throat. The ogre fell forward and Alistair jumped out of the way as it did so.

As it fell Alistair swung his sword down upon the back of the ogre's neck. I stepped forward as he did so and tried to assist. Needless to say I wasn't much help. Instead the mage came up and began burning through the neck as well. It took about twenty seconds for us to sever the ogre's neck without any kind of heavier weapon, an ax or hammer.

With the ogre now obviously dead Alistair fell down, obviously exhausted. He motioned toward the fire. "Can someone get that going?"

The mage fell as well, "Sorry, out of energy for now. Give me a few moments."

Alistair nodded, then took out a piece of flint and tossed it to me. "There will be tinder in the firepit. Get the signal burning. Let's hope it's not too late."

I caught it and walked over to the pyre. I took out the flint and glanced back at Alistair, "Can I borrow a knife or something?"

He groaned and then motioned for me to walk back over to the resting men. As I walked back Alistair drew a knife out and said, "You do know how to use this right?"

I nodded, "Yes, I think I do at least."

He rolled his eyes again and muttered, "What a lucky break."

Ignoring that, I again approached the firepit and began striking the knife against the stone. Indeed there was tinder in the pile and the sparks quickly caught in it. Smoke started to curl up off of the pyre and I blew lightly the point the smoke came from. Within a few moments the tinder was burning. I reached over to the lighter wood and set them on the flames. The fire started to burn higher when Alistair called, "There's oil next to the pit. We need the fire going a lot faster."

I glanced over and there was the oil I hadn't even noticed. With a quick motion I took it down and tossed it on the flames. The fire quickly started heating faster and the flames reached the larger wood and was finally large enough for the signal to be seen.

Alistair stood up and walked over to the edge of the tower, looking out on the battlefield. He smiled for a moment and then frowned and started waving. He glanced back at us. "they're leaving."

One of the men leapt up and ran over to the railing. He looked down as well. "He's right. Those bastards are leaving us here." The rest of the men ran over to look as well. As each one reached the railing outraged voices could be heard by each one of them. "Traitors." "Die like people." "Come back you cowardly bastards."

As I had told them Loghain used the signal to retreat, leaving the King and Wardens to die on the field. As they left Alistair looked back and me and mouthed, "How did you know?" We watched as the army was slowly surrounded and wiped out. Even in the night the light coming from the Darkspawn bathed parts of the army in ghostly light and King's company was killed.

The remnants of the army disintegrated and were destroyed, only a few survivors fleeing the field. Most were cut down by pursuing Shrieks. Even as we watched a noise came from behind and we whirled around. Coming through the door were more and more darkspawn. Each had a crossbow and raised them. Several soldiers reacted quickly, grabbing their own crossbows and firing a bolt into them. A few fell, but the rest fired. Men screamed as bolts slammed into them. Four hit me. Two bolts slammed into my left leg and I felt the bone break under the impact. A third hit my right shoulder. As I fell a fourth went into my chest. The pain was horrible, which was actually a blessing as I lost consciousness from the pain.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: Thank you to Selande for your review.**

Chapter II

Slowly I returned to consciousness. I tried to sit up, but a pain in my shoulder forced me back down. A voice nearby said, "Hmm. Finally awake are you? Your friend woke up a couple of hours ago."

I opened my eyes fully now, and quickly closed them as the light seemed to burn for a moment. After a few moments though they had adjusted back to normal, at least for here, lighting and I sat up with more success this time. As I did so I looked down at myself. My right leg was in a cast with poultices wrapped around it. Another was around my stomach and wrapped around to my shoulder.

I glanced around and the only other person in the room was a woman with black hair. Realizing I knew exactly who she was I fell back down and started swearing softly to myself. She stood looking down at me with a raised eyebrow and I finished my little rant, mainly because I started running out of words. Finally I just finished by closing my eyes and muttered, "Okay, wake up. This cannot be real. You were struck by lightning and are dreaming. Just…"

I was interrupted at this point by the woman hitting me over the head with her palm. "Shut up. You're not dreaming. Now get moving before I toss you out of the house. Your shirt, coat, and armor are in the chest over there. Your shoes, socks, sword, and whatever those other things are, are next to the bed."

I just opened my eyes and nodded. Slowly I pushed myself up, being careful to keep weight off of my right leg. I walked over to the chest the woman had pointed to. It took a few moments to open it with only one arm. I dressed as fast as possible, and then fell back down on the bed. The injuries weren't excrutiating, but still incredibly sore.

The woman hit me again and told me, "Get up. Mother is waiting outside. She wants to talk to you and the other Warden."

I started to protest that I wasn't a Warden, but she just pointed toward the door again. I got up asked if she could hand me my stuff. This time the woman nodded and picked started picking up the stuff. I glanced down at them all as she handed them over. Car keys, doubt I will ever use those again; a wallet with various cards and twenty-three dollars in cash, I doubt those will ever be used again either; fifty-six cents in various change; my grandfather's swiss army knife from the Second World War back home; a small package of paper matches; a road Atlas of the state of Arkansas, I don't even remember why I had this with me at the time; my cell phone, dead now of course; and a mechanical pencil with a small container with pencil lead along with a Click Eraser.

As I took each one and put it in a pocket the woman just looked at them, she didn't say anything though since this particular woman had never spent much time amongst humans and probably assumed these were usual trinkets out there. Finally I attached the sword to my belt and picked up the revolver. I opened it up and sure enough it was still unloaded. In the excitement of the battle I had forgotten to load it at all. As a precautionary I opened up the cartridge box on the belt as well, a dozen bullets still remained in place.

With that done I limped over toward the door, trying to keep as much weight as possible off my right leg. As I opened the door I looked back over my shoulder and said, "Thank you Morrigan."

The woman didn't respond. Her eyes widened slightly and that confused me for a moment until I realized the problem and mentally slapped myself. She had never told me her name. Not wanting to have to explain I hurried, or rather hobbled, outside.

Outside Alistair and an elderly woman were standing near the edge of a small lake. The woman was obviously trying to talk to him, but Alistair was still stuck in a despair over what had just happened to just about everyone he knew. Upon seeing the elderly woman I was gripped by an urge to run, run away and never look back. Then I remembered exactly who she was and decided, that might not be such a good idea.

Instead I walked over to them. As I approached the woman turned around and said, "Ah. Here's the other one. I'm glad my handiwork didn't go to waste. Now that both you wardens are here it's time to discuss what happens next."

"What happens next?" Alistair snapped. She gave him a glare and he settled into a more calm tone. "What happens next is the Blight destroys Ferelden. The army is gone and Loghain betrayed us. Why though? Why would he betray the king?"

At this I said, "He was afraid. Cailan was planning to set his daughter aside for the Orlesian Empress. He planned to get rid of the Wardens and what he believed was their influence over the King. Killing Cailan was only an added bonus."

Alistair looked at me, "How do you know that?"

My answer was one that I would practice delivering a lot over the years, "I know everything."

He frowned, "Yeah, I doubt it."

"Well, okay, I don't actually but the truth is a lot more complicated. Let's just leave it at that."

He frowned as if considering that then shrugged. "Fine then, you were right the last time, so I'll assume the same is true now. That doesn't change the fact the Gray Wardens were wiped out. Even if they we weren't or if there were additional survivors we don't have an army."

The woman laughed at this. "I might be able to help with that."

Alistair looked at her, "How?"

"When you were in the Wilds with the two recruits earlier what were you looking for?"

"I don't really know. They were some kind of treaty Duncan wanted."

She smiled, it was honestly terrifying to see, "Treaties of mutual defense in fact. As it just so happens I have the treaties you were looking for."

"Then why didn't you give them to us earlier?" Alistair demanded.

"I didn't feel like it." With a flourish the woman produced the treaties and handed them over to Alistair.

He started glancing over them, but finally looked up confused. "I can't read them."

She nodded, "Of course not. They're written in old Tevinter. I would be surprised if you could. Let's just say they compel certain groups in Ferelden to come to the aid of the Grey Wardens in case of a Blight."

I spoke up here again, "The Dalish Elves, Dwarves, and the Circle to be specific."

He gave me another of the funny looks when I said something I could possibly know, but before anything more could be said the woman confirmed it. "Indeed, those are the groups. And I think there is one more thing I can do for you." She turned back toward the house and called, "Morrigan. Come out here. Our guests are leaving."

The black haired woman, Morrigan, exited the house holding a ladle. She looked at us, "Already mother? How fortunate for them."

Her mother smiled again, and I felt another wave of terror at the look, "Oh don't worry dear. You're going with them."

The look on Morrigan's face was almost worth all the misery that would come during the Blight. Okay, that's a lie. Nothing could possibly make the next months worthwhile. She was silent in horror for a few moment before snapping, "What?"

"You are going with the Warden." the old woma repeated, slowly.

Alistair looked weirdly at the two of them and said, "Oh, that's fine. If she doesn't want to come she doesn't need to."

I muttered, "Yes she does."

The three looked at me. Morrigan snapped at me, "Oh, and I'm not going to get any say in the matter?"

Alistair muttered to me, "I don't think that's a good idea. These people are apostates, let's get away as fast as possible."

The old woman just laughed. "Well, at least one person here has sense." Morrigan and Alistair exchanged a glance that quite clearly showed their opinion of that statement. "Yes, she will be going with you. Now, get packed. You'll need to leave as soon as possible. There are walking sticks for the two of you," she directed at Alistair and myself, "Morrigan, get your things together. For you two I've set aside a few walking sticks to use and cans and packs with food and canteens. It's four days to Lothering in the best of shape. For your group most likely closer to eight. Those injuries should be fine within three days, four on the outside. Now get ready."

Morrigan stomped off speaking fairly loudly about how much she honestly just didn't want to go. As she left Alistair and I limped over to the walking sticks and he asked, "Are you sure about this? What if the treaties aren't honored?"

"Don't worry they will be."

"Oh, and how do you know?"

I looked at him with one raised eyebrow, "the same way I know everything else."

"And how is that?"

"I told you, I know everything."

He snorted and muttered, "Except anything involving personal combat."

I shrugged and picked up on the sticks. I picked up one that was fairly short that could be used as a cane and put on the pack. It wasn't one of the really heavy one I had been expecting. Inside was just a small amount of food; mainly dried meat from a source I don't want to think about and some dried biscuits; a blanket, a small wooden container holding water, some tinder for firestarting, and a small amount of money: mostly bits that added up to a little over three silver pieces. The pack probably weighed something less than five pounds.

Alistair looked over his and muttered, "something tells me we're in trouble. We have maybe ten days of food, and one of water. We'll have to ration it carefully."

I shuddered. I'm not what most people back home would call fat, but compared to the average size in Fereldan I was probably one of the most obese people outside some of the nobility. Rationing food isn't something that happened in my own world, and I was not looking forward to it.

Alistair clapped me on the shoulder and said cheerfully, "don't worry. The less we eat at each meal the less you'll have to think about what it tastes like."

With that reassuring thought we returned to Morrigan and her mother. Morrigan was carrying a slightly smaller bag and a long staff. The elderly woman looked over at us as we approached them. "There are poultices in Morrigan's bag. Replace them twice a day until you run out. Now, it's time to for you all to go."

Alistair nodded and said, "Thank you…" He trailed off as he realized she hadn't actually told us her name. I thought about telling him who it was who had saved us, but thought better of it. I had already made that mistake today and wasn't intending to do so again.

The old woman smiled, "You're welcome. Now go."

Morrigan glanced over at us. "Yes, let's." Without another word or backward glance Morrigan started walking away.

The next three days were probably the hardest of my life, well up to that point anyway. I've never been one to exercise for its own sake, mainly when I have done so it was for cross-country in junior-high school and Quidditch in college. Even today I prefer either taking a coach (when outside Ferelden or Nevarra) or just taking a train. In those days however we had no horses, no carriages, and trains hadn't weren't on the drawing board, walking was basically the only mode of transport we had.

It was extremely slow going the first day. Alistair insisted on avoiding the main road as much as possible during that time. He reasoned (reasonably) that the horde would be in the area of the main road trying to recover from the battle. We didn't know at the time the darkspain horde had suffered between sixty and seventy percent of their entire army as casualties in the battle. After the first day of not seeing any darkspawn in the Wilds at all Alistair ordered us back onto the main roads.

Alistair and Morrigan made good time, probably three miles an hour at their usual pace. Unfortunately for them they had to stop every couple of minutes to let me keep up. Don't get me wrong, I could easily make three miles an hour while whole, but with a poultice around one leg and lugging a (light) pack I moved closer to two miles an hour. Overall we only made progress of maybe six miles a day with a rest break (mostly for me) every half hour.

"Oh Maker, I'm so glad to be able to get rid of these things finally." Alistair said as he peeled the last of the poultices off of his injuries. I nodded from where I was sitting, facing firmly away. I had already removed my own poultices.

Alistair finished redressing then strode over to a small copse of trees. With a small motion he tore down two small branches and walked back over to the camp. He tossed one at me and called, "catch."

I looked up at the branch and tried to catch it. Instead it hit me in the face. I picked up the branch and put one hand up to feel the area the stick had struck. A goose egg was forming and Morrigan was laughing. I stood up shakily and glared over at Alistair.

He shrugged, "well, that's what we're working on. You need better reflexes. Now. defend yourself."

With that Alistair swung the branch he was carrying and I tried to stop it. The branch hit my right hand and my own branch fell to the ground. Alistair motioned toward it and said, "pick it up and try again."

I did so and within seconds was disarmed again. Alistair sighed and said, "again."

For twenty minutes I got the stuffing knocked out of me. I think that first session I managed to land maybe one blow on Alistair, largely because Morrigan tripped him. That first session was the only one of the day, but the next four days saw my "instruction" in swordsmanship in twenty minutes sessions between six and seven times a day. Each time Alistair pulled very few of the blows, only stopping if he deemed it likely to break a bone. I was covered in bruises by the third day. Alistair for his part had a spot I had hit his hand (by accident), a cut across his head (his branch broke during one of the offensive sessions), and a single bruise to one arm (he stepped in a hole during the session and was distracted long enough for me to manage one counterattack.)

Needless to say, as a swordsman, I sucked.

It was on the fourth day of training, seventh of travel, Morrigan pulled me aside finally to ask something that had been eating away at her for the entire time. "How did you know?" she demanded. I was confused for a moment but she clarified quickly, "My name. How did you know my name?"

This had been going to come up so I decided to just use the same answer I had used on Alistair before, "I know everything."

She glared at me. "I'm serious. That line might work on the buffoon, but now me. Tell me now or so help me…" She trailed off in a menacing voice no one else has ever managed to do so well.

I gulped and thought quickly for a semi-convinving lie before saying quickly, "I was half-conscious at times we were in your mother's hut. I heard you talking."

Morrigan thought that over for a moment before slowly nodding, "I see no reason to disbelieve you, but what else did you hear."

"Nothing, nothing important I swear." That was sort of true, I hadn't heard any of it after all.

With one final glare Morrigan walked off. Alistair walked up and after looking after her for a moment asked, "What was that about?"

I shrugged, "I really don't want to talk about it."

Alistair nodded, "Oh, that's a sentiment I can understand. Now catch."

I groaned but managed to catch the branch with only a modicum of trouble this time around.

The next day we reached Lothering.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks to Wyolake and Pegueng for reviewing, Wyolake I'll keep that in mind.**

Chapter III

"Hmm… What have we here?" Alistair asked, looking over the barricade.

From behind the stacks of crates a rather weaselly looking man emerged. He smiled broadly when he saw us and stepped up to the barricade. "Welcome travelers. We're part of the Imperial Highway trust. Your donations go to ensure honest travelers such as yourselves don't succumb to a horrible death while on the road. It's ten silvers to pass through into Lothering."

Alistair raised an eyebrow, "Oh, and if we don't pay?"

Another, larger, man came out from behind the crates as well, followed by another three men. All of them were armed and wearing hardened leather as armor. The big man who led the group said, "If you don't pay then we kill you and loot the corpses. Those are the rules."

Alistair glanced back at us, "Oh really? Well I'm afraid we don't have that kind of money. Now, are we going to have a problem?"

I did not know up until that point exactly how terrifying Alistair could be when angry, but now he most definitely had reached that stage, something that probably came in handy later when he was bullying the nobility. Unfortunately for the bandits they still hadn't realized it. The leader, the weasel man, smiled sickly at us. "Well in that case, I'm afraid we're going to have to confiscate those pretty weapons and that armor of you have. The toll is universal I'm afraid."

Alistair didn't even bother answering. Instead in one swift motion he drew the sword off his back and drove it in a downward arc that was simply part of his drawing the sword that lopped off the weasel man's head. Without another signal Morrigan drew her staff up and blasted rolling sheets of ice toward the barricade. It was brittle for a moment then Alistair slammed his shield into it.

With the barricade gone Morrigan started to twist and within moments had turned into a wolf. With a snarl she lept the ruins of the barricade and went straight for the throat of the big man. He tried to bring his hammer up to block her jump but she was too agile. With a slight dodge Morrigan moved away from the hammer blow and sank her teeth into his right arm. The big man screamed and dropped the hammer as his right arm's frontal bone snapped. With her target helpless Morrigan proceeded to wrap her jaws around his throat and moments later he lay on the ground twitching.

Alistair meanwhile moved into the group of three remaining bandits. He slammed his shield into the chest of one and kicked another to his right and drove his sword point-first into the third bandits chest. The other two prepared to counterattack when Morrigan leapt in front of them and returned to human form, with a without bothering to pick her staff up again Morrigan swept one hand forward and the waves of ice again rolled from it. Both men were completely frozen in place. The fight had lasted less than thirty seconds. Neither Alistair nor Morrigan had been injured in the slightest.

Alistair slung his sword and shield back across his back and Morrigan started spitting blood out of her mouth. The two glanced over at me, standing there dumbstruck, with my sword still sheathed. I had always assumed just how fast and skilled a swordsman could be, but seeing it was something else entirely. Alistair though just said, "So, feel like making yourself useful? Check the bodies for money. We'll need it."

I shuddered, blood and human excrement were never substances I've wanted anything to do with but set about it anyway. I vomited three times while collecting the purses of the five bandits. Nothing but water came out since Alistair had cut us down to one meal a day once the meat started to run out. Once I had the purses I took a drink from the cantine to try to settle my stomach and suppress some of the hunger pains.

Alistair made a motion and I tossed the purses to him one by one. He opened them up and shook the money out to count. It took a few moments before he shook his head in disgust. "Forty silver pieces and another eight bits, congratulations everyone, we now are ten times richer." He glanced toward the crates and scowled, "I hate to do this, but search the crates. Take anything valuable or edible."

Morrigan nodded and the two of us hauled a crate off one of the stacks. I used my saber to pry it open. Inside were a small number of apples and peaches. Morrigan and I both grabbed one and I tossed another to Alistair. It took us about a minute to finish off all the fruit we'd found. Eagerly the two of us went through the other crates and finally set up everything we'd found.

Most of it was clothing that didn't fit any of us, but there were a few pieces that would fit with a little work. We set those aside to take with us. There were two loaves of bread that were going stale, but we were basically beggars so those were set aside as well. There was a gold necklace Morrigan took to either sell or melt down later. The three of us split what little we had found and left the rest.

While Morrigan and I searched through the crates Alistair went over to the body of another traveler who hadn't been so fortunate with the bandits. After a few moments of looking he came back with a note and locket destined for a Ser Donall in Lothering.

We descended from the road into Lothering and Alistair finally pulled us off to the side away from the refugees, "Okay, I think it's time we talk about what we're going to do?"

Morrigan snorted, "Oh, you've been thinking? Am I supposed to believe that."

Alistair scowled at her and continued, "Anyway. I think we should go see Arl Eamon before pursuing the treaties. I know we're hoping to get allies and William insists they'll help, but having at least part of the nobility on our side will solidify things considerably against Loghain as much as the darkspawn."

I thought about telling him what was going on in Redcliffe but thought better of it. Alistair has always been impetuous, even as King (the war with Orlais is a prime example), and telling him might make us rush off before ready we were ready; doubtful I know but staying away from Redcliffe as long as possible was rather high on my list of priorities. Selfish and despicable? Yes, but I've never claimed to be the best humanity has to offer.

We were greeted at near the refugee camp by alone templar who stood guard. From behind his mask a tired voice informed us, "If you're looking for food or safety you'll find neither. The town in full. The Chantry and Inn are both overflowing with refugees. Every house has been seized by templar authority and filled. You will have to find refuge in the camp."

Morrigan started a scathing answer but Alistair wisely cut her off. "That won't be necessary. We're just passing through. I doubt we'll be in here more than a few hours."

The templar sighed gratefully, "Good. We can't take any more people. Go about your business and leave as soon as possible. Tempers among the people are starting to fray and the town was stripped of guards for Ostagar."

Alistair nodded and led us onwards. The templar hadn't lied. There wasn't so much a street through the town as there was a trail through the people. Hundreds had crowded into the small community and there were even more people in the refugee camp outside. I felt sick looking at them, knowing they were all going to die when the Horde came through. Alistair looked over them but shook his head and muttered, "nothing to be done." and led us onwards.

Several times people tried to accost us to beg for money or food. Each time Alistair or myself would tell them we didn't have anything and ask them to leave us alone. Then Morrigan would generally hit them. It was effective though and soon the beggars were scooting to the side whenever Morrigan was within staff length.

Looking around Alistair said, "Okay, let's check the inn for information first. Surely someone here knows what's been going on since Ostagar. I wonder how long it's been."

"Three weeks," volunteered Morrigan.

Alistair and I turned to look at her in shock. She shrugged. Both of you were unconscious for about a week after mother saved you. She decided it was best to keep you in a magical trance to speed the healing up. It worked too. If she hadn't the two of you would be in poultices for another six months at least."

Alistair nodded. "Okay, I guess that makes sense, but no wonder we didn't spot any of Loghain's men looking for survivor's on the road. They'll have been back in Denerim for four days before we set out. We have to make up the time."

With that Alistair paid a kid ten bits to show us where the inn was. Morrigan and I protested the waste of money but he insisted we didn't have the time to wade through refugees looking for it. Looking back he was probably right.

Dane's Refuge was a small place, not designed to hold more than twenty people. Currently it was home to about eighty. The only place relatively empty was the actual bar area. I say relatively because that's where we got the first taste of Loghain's thugs. There were three of them. Each wearing the scale armor. They took one look at Alistair and the leader announced, "Hey boys. Looks like the town might have been lying to us after all."

One of the others looked and started laughing, "Looks like it. Weren't we asking all week about someone matching that description."

The third not wanting to be left out said, "Yeah, well looks like some people are in for a rough day."

As they started laughing louder I groaned, "I hate that cliché."

Alistair just unslung his sword and asked politely, "Are we going to have a problem?"

The leader unslung his own sword, followed by the two men behind him. "Now that depends. Are you going to come to Loghain alive or dead?"

Alistair sighed, "Okay, problem it is."

With that he swung the sword at the man's head. This man though wasn't an untrained bandit. He brought his own sword up and blocked the blow. Morrigan started waving her hand for a spell but one of the men brought his sword down toward her. Morrigan interrupted the spell to bring her staff up to deflect the sword. The third man came at me. I barely got my saber out of its scabbard before his sword made contact. I closed my eyes realizing there was no possible way I could block it when there was the clang of metal on metal. I opened one eye, slightly amazed to still be alive, and saw a red-haired woman with a dagger standing between me and the thug.

That was the opening I needed. With a quick motion I dived into the kitchen to hide. I'm still not sure why that brought me closer to my mortality than the ambush at Ostagar, but it did. Thinking back I realized the truth I hadn't faced before: I could have DIED!

Up until that point it had all really just been a game. Albeit a really painful, hungry, tiring game but still just a game. At that moment the sheer enormity of it all finally sank in. My home, my family, my friends all gone. As I sat there listening to one of the men screaming from whatever Morrigan had finally managed to do I broke down and cried.

I don't know how long I sat there but in the end I looked up to see three people looking down at me; two with something approaching concern, and Morrigan who just had a look of thinly veiled contempt. The red-haired woman said in a thick Orlesian accent, "Are you okay."

I nodded. "It's nothing," I lied. From the look on all their faces they knew it too, but for now no one was willing to press the issue.

Instead the woman announced, "My name is Leliana."

Alistair nodded, "Nice to meet you. Now may I ask where a Chantry sister learned to fight as well as you?"

Leliana smiled, "You may ask. Now, should we get going?"

"Yes we…, wait what?" Alistair asked.

I said, "She got a vision from the maker that she had to come with us."

The other three looked at me and Alistair said, "Wait, what? That's ridiculous."

"And yet," said Leliana, "He's right. I received a vision from the Maker in a dream that told me to go with you and help end the Blight."

Alistair leaned over to me, "Are you sure this is a good idea? She seems kind of…"

I looked over at him, "Crazy?" Then repeated a line I had once heard him use, "yes, but she's more of the ooh pretty colors crazy; not the I am Princess Stabitty! Stab, kill, kill variety."

Alistair laughed, "I was just thinking that." Louder he announced, "Well Leliana, I'm not sure I believe your story, but for now you can come with us."

Morrigan snorted, "Mother should have checked your heads more thoroughly before letting you out. She must have missed some kind of injury."

Alistair gave the answer that would become his standard response to anything Morrigan said to him: "Shut up Morrigan. Now let's leave before more people eager to collect on my head show up."

As we left the inn I got a decent look at the three men who had attacked us. The leader was lying against the wall with a blood trail following him down and a hole in the wall where Alistair's sword had impacted on it. The second was lying in a pile of… something that Morrigan had done to him. The final thug was lying on the ground with multiple stab wounds in his back from Leliana's dagger.

Outside Alistair turned to us and announced, "Okay, that didn't go as planned. We still don't know what is going on around here and I really don't think we should go back in there. So Miss Leliana has there been anything interesting happen around here?"

Leliana nodded, "We've been having refugees come in daily but there's a Qunari here as well. The Chantry Mother said he murdered an entire family."

I leaned over to Alistair, "We could use a Qunari soldier on our side All we have to do is convince the Chantry mother to let him go."

"No." Leliana snapped, "I'm surprised you would even suggest such a thing. I knew the family he killed. He deserves what happens to him."

"Well," Alistair interrupted, "we can go talk to him and decide from there." Leliana and I nodded. We could both accept that as a compromise. "In that case Miss Leliana, please lead the way."

She motioned for us to follow her and started moving out of town. Outside the town were a line of cages, but only one was filled. Inside was a giant from the north. Unlike most kossith this one lacked the horns that is their second-most defining characteristic.

The kossith was chanting in meditation as we approached. Alistair stepped up the cage and said, "Hello." The kossith ignored us. Again Alistair said, "Hello." Again the Kossith didn't answer.

I put one hand on Alistair's shoulder and said, "Let me try."

Alistair shrugged and said, "Be my guest." I stepped closer to the cage and said loudly, "Sten of the Beresaad."

The kossith's eyes opened. "How do you know what I am human?"

I shrugged and lied, "Paying attention. You don't have horns so you have to be a Sten. The military forces of the Qun are the Beresaad and you can't be a member of the Tal Voshoth."

He scowled at me, "You know much about my people human. How did you come by this information?"

"That isn't important right now. What is important is we have a mission that might let you redeem yourself, both in our eyes and in those of your Arishok."

"Oh, and what mission might that be?" Sten demanded.

"We need help against the Blight." I answered.

Sten looked me up and down. He frowned then looked Leliana in her Chantry sister robe, Morrigan in her something, and Alistair, the only one who looked even vaguely comfortable in armor. "So you are a Gray Warden? Even my people have heard stories about the Gray Wardens, if you are what they have to offer I am not impressed."

I smiled widely, "In that case I can honestly say I am not a Gray Warden."

"Strange. Why would you take on a task another is sworn to."

I scowled, "Yeah, I didn't exactly have a choice in the matter."

Sten finished the conversation saying, "I will help you against the Blight if you can convince theChantry mother to release the key to you. Otherwise leave me to my fate."

With that he closed his eyes and returned to chanting and I stepped away from the cage. As I did so Morrigan said, "This creature is brave and noble. We can't just leave him here to be ripped apart by darkspawn."

Alistair looked over at her, "That seems to be out of character for you."

"I would also suggest we replace him with Alistair." Morrigan finished.

Alistair nodded, "Okay see. That is more in line with what I thought you would say."

Leliana interrupted their spat, "It doesn't matter. He murdered an innocent family. We should leave him here to die."

Morrigan looked ready to snap at her when I cut them off, "Honestly I agree with Leliana. This kossith should die for what he did, in ordinary circumstances. But we need all the help we can find. Besides most likely we're all going to die horribly so I doubt his fate will be significantly better traveling with us."

Leliana thought it over and finally answered, "Fine. I'll accept that, but if he survives this quest I want him to pay for it."

Alistair nodded at that. "Okay, I think we can agree to that. I guess to the Chantry."

As we turned to leave however a group of men had gathered behind us. There were almost a dozen of them, some armed with knives or old swords, some holding clubs, one with a bow, and some who had only their fists. At the front one of the men stepped forward, "I heard those men in the inn. You're Gray Wardens. I don't care if the charges are correct or not, but that money could feed a lot of people."

With that the man charged at us, the rest followed. Alistair barely got his sword up before the first one reached him. He blocked the man's knife while his shield caught a club. Leliana was faster. She drew out her dagger and with a quick motion threw it at the bowman. Even as he knocked an arrow the dagger slammed into the man's right shoulder. He dropped the bow and Leliana took off to grab it. Morrigan motioned toward a group and one of the men fell over as his blood froze.

Two charged at me and I grabbed at my saber. It took a few seconds to draw it successfully, but I managed to get it out in time to block the club one of the men swung at me. The sword vibrated from the impact and in a blind motion I hit it against the throat of the second man. There was a sick sound and the man fell, blood draining from the wound in his neck. The man with the club brought it around again, and I tried to block it again but this time the club hit my arm. It didn't break but I dropped the sword. The man raised the club to hit me again, but he slumped forward as an arrow tip emerged from his chest. I picked up the saber again and looked for anyone left. There weren't any. Alistair was standing over three bodies, Morrigan in front of another five that had been killed in rather inventive ways. The last one had one of Leliana's arrows in his back.

Alistair wiped his sword off and ordered, "okay, let's get to the Chantry so we can get out of this town as soon as possible. I don't think our welcome is going to last once people find out about this."

With that lovely thought the four of us set off back into town. I trailed slightly behind them, still thinking about what had just happened. Leliana held back as I didn't try to catch up and asked, "May I ask what's wrong?"

I looked at her, almost crying, "I killed him. I've never killed anyone before. I've never even been in a fight with an actual person before."

She smiled encouragingly. "I understand, I still remember the first time I killed a man. I had nightmares about it for months afterwards. Eventually I got used to it."

I shook my head, "I really hope I don't."

The Chantry was a magnificent building, at least as close to magnificent as a small town could manage at least. Now though it was filled to the brim with either refugees or people praying for safe haven when the horde came. We waded through the refugees, trying not to step on anyone. As we neared the front the people changed from those who were living there to those prying for salvation. Today I sometimes wonder how many got out, then I go and drink something because if Bethany and Hawke are right, less than a tenth managed it.

As Leliana and I tried to figure out where the Chantry mother would be Alistair saw one of his old friends and went to greet him. Leliana and I finally came to a decision and went to talk with thecleric. Morrigan followed because in her words "it is either follow the idiots with some ounce of sense, or listen to Alistair" she chose the idiots.

The cleric didn't notice our approach at first, she was busy giving orders for shelter. Leliana waited respectfully for her to finish before saying, "Revered Mother, these travelers ask that you release the Qunari you have imprisoned so he may be forced to make atonement for his crimes."

The Chantry mother looked shocked for a moment before saying, "Oh, and what could possibly be atonement for the crimes he committed."

Leliana nodded at me and I thought about how best to address the situation before saying, "Revered Mother, I represent those who are working to oppose the archdemon in its unholy quest to destroy Ferelden, birthplace of Andraste. If any person or creature can be put to the service of the Maker in saving this holy nation they must be used. I swear upon the name of Andraste those who perished at the kossith's hands will not go unforgotten. There is near certainty he will die in this service anyway and if not he will face trial for his actions. Let some good come of this tragedy so we may ensure other families don't undergo the same fate at the hands of creatures far worse than this kossith." Did I lay it on a bit thick? Probably, but it needed to be done and I wasn't sure I would get another chance."

The cleric thought and finally responded, "and do you agree with this Sister?"

Leliana grimaced, she had hoped the issue wouldn't come up. "Yes, Revered Mother I do. The Qunari deserves death, but we can hope at least to save a few people from suffering a worse fate."

The cleric sighed and pulled out a key. She tossed it over to us and said, "very well. I don't like this, but I will allow it. Take the heathen and leave the town before the citizens here of this." I bowed and turned to leave before she changed her mind but the she finished saying, "and remember any innocents who die because of him will have their blood on your hands."

Leliana said, "thank you Revered Mother."

The three of us turned to leave and met Alistair and the man he had recognized. Alistair motioned toward him and said, "William, Leliana meet Ser Donall. Ser Donall this is William and this is Sister Leliana."

I held out a hand and Ser Donall took it. We shook and then he kissed Leliana's hand. Finally Donall looked at Morrigan and asked, "and who is this beauty."

Morrigan scowled at him and answered, "Shut up or so help me…"

Alistair interrupted before Morrigan could finish that threat, "Anyway Ser Donall and I have been talking. Arl Eamon is sick and his wife sent out Redcliff's knights to search for the Urn of Sacred Ashes."

Leliana gasped, "What have they found out?"

Ser Donall said, I was looking through the library here, but according to the letter Alistair gave from Ser Henric a Brother Genitivi in Denerim might be our best hope of finding it. I was going to head home once Ser Henric got back, but Alistair has agreed for all of your group to join the search."

Morrigan forgot, temporarily at least, her anger and said, "That's ridiculous. If Redcliff can't help us let's go and enforce those treaties now. You'll need help from those who are actually able to help."

Alistair answered, "If Eamon is too sick for magic to help then the Urn is our only hope."

I thought about leaving their argument going but my conscience finally caught up with me. I knew I was going to regret saying it but, "Umm… We have to go to Redcliff."

The other four looked at me and Alistair asked, "Why?"

I thought about telling the truth about what was happening but finally decided to lie again, a habit I was falling into rapidly, "Because we have no resources at our disposal. Eamon might not be up and able to help, but the treasury of the Arling should be able to fund any expedition after the Urn we might send, and we can start raising the Arling's army."

Alistair thought about it and asked Donall what he thought. Donall slowly nodded. "I don't like to delay, but what he says does make sense. The resources of the Arling should be enough to fund our travel, and if we fail the situation will still be well in hand."

"Then it's decided," Alistair announced. "Off to Redcliff, but first to free the Qunari near the edge of town."

The key turned in the cage easily and the door swung open. Sten of the Beresaad stepped out and said, "I did not think the Chantry mother would let you free me."

I nodded, "She agreed to release you if you come with us to combat the Blight. So Sten, will you come with us?"

He nodded, "Yes. I was sent south to learn of the Blight. Perhaps by combating it with you I can complete my mission and begin at least a small part of my redemption."

I extended a hand and said, "in that case Sten, welcome to our merry band of misfits."

He looked down at my hand and after some hesitation shook it. One by one our group introduced ourselves and Ser Donall began leading us back up to the Imperial Highway. As we passed a mill I saw a two people standing on it watching us. I waved at them but the man seemed to panic and pulled his sister back inside. It would be another year before I realized just who I had waved at that day.

In the here and now I was called back as the others began drawing their weapons. I looked at them confused and Alistair said, "There are darkspawn coming down the road from here. Get ready."

I gulped and drew my saber. Alistair waved us forward and he, Ser Donall, and Sten took point. Morrigan and Leliana followed behind them and I "covered" them. Okay I was hanging back to try to stay out of the fight.

Alistair had been right. Running down the road at a pair of dwarves were six hurlocks and four genlocks including an emissary. With a yell Alistair and Ser Donall launched themselves at a pair of hurlocks. Sten grabbed another and snapped its neck. With a swift motion he picked up its sword and cut the head off another. Leliana brought her bow up and with a fluid motion released an arrow at the emissary. It snarled and motioned with one hand. The arrow shattered in midflight. It motioned again and a bolt of lightning shot toward Leliana. Morrigan pushed her out of the way with her own staff, then blasted the emissary with a dozen shards of ice. The ice slammed into the emissary and it sank to one knee. Even so the emissary's staff moved again and this time a series of lightning bolts emerged and rushed at Morrigan. She answered with a burst of freezing cold that engulfed the emissary and left it a statue. With a final motion she launched a stone pulled out of the road at the ice sculpture and shattered it. One genlock rushed at me but fell as Leliana shot it. The fight was over. Sten was finishing off the last hurlock while Alistair and Ser Donall checked the others for any sign they might still be alive.

As they did so one of the dwarves came up to me, "Oh thank you. I was afraid they were going to kill us. I'm Bodahn Feddic and this is my boy Sandal."

I smiled and nodded, "You're welcome. My name is William. These are my traveling companions: Leliana, Alistair, Ser Donall, Sten of the Beresaad, and Morrigan. Tell me Bodahn, where are you headed?"

He shrugged, "I'm just travelling with the markets. Although with the Blight I might be heading off to Orlais soon."

Alistair looked up from stabbing a knife through a genlocks' throat and said, "I don't suppose you have any food?"

Bodahn blinked, "Well yes actually. Quite a bit."

Hearing that Alistair stood up and walked over. Finally he offered, "then how about a deal. We're heading to Redcliff. You might be able to run a small business there while all this is going on. We provide protection along the way and you share it with us."

Bodahn considered. Finally he answered, "I suppose that makes sense. You have a deal. My son might even be able to offer his services on the way."

Leliana raised an eyebrow and looked ready to jump to conclusions before I said, "Sandal is one of those rare dwarves who can enchant weapons." The group looked at me and I realized that information hadn't been shared yet. Thinking quickly I finished, "At least I assume so."

Bodahn nodded, "That he is. If you have any runes Sandal can enchant weaponry for you."

Alistair and Morrigan were completely silent, the rest honestly had no idea what was so special about the idea. Finally Alistair managed to cough out, "Your son is an enchanter? That's impossible. It takes years of training for the tranquil to do it. I don't think anyone is even capable."

Bodahn beamed, "I know, but my boy can do it completely naturally."

Alistair nodded, still kind of in shock at the pronouncement. "Well, I guess we should be heading out." He spun around and motioned down the road, "To Redcliff."


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: Originally I was going to include the battle in this chapter, but in the end decided that would make it way too long, so the battle will be in the next chapter.**

Chapter IV

"Ah, it's good to be home." said Ser Donall waving over the town of Redcliff. It wasn't that big relatively, not compared to the city that exists there today, or even Denerim at the time. Most people who live there today would be shocked, the town was actually clean then.

He walked down to the bridge leading into town when Alistair stopped us and motioned for Leliana and myself to speak alone, he didn't trust either Sten or Morrigan with the big news he expected to shock us with. Leliana glanced at me with a raised eyebrow but followed silently, I shrugged already knowing what he was going to say, but wanting to keep up appearances.

The two of us walked over to him and Alistair announced in a whisper, "Okay, I might not have been entirely truthful about my origins."

Leliana snorted, "Oh big surprise there, Mr. I-am-obviously-hiding-something. If we were in a story I'd say you were the rightful heir or something like that." Seeing the expression on Alistair's face she gasped and whispered, "Oh Maker. You actually are aren't you?"

Alistair smiled ruefully, "You guessed it. King Maric's bastard by a serving girl. Eamon raised me since I was young. He was the one who told me my parentage. When he married Isolde she suspected I was his and insisted I be sent to the Chantry."

Leliana giggled, "It really is just like a story."

Alistair scowled at her, "Is that really your first reaction? No pity, no empathy?"

She grinned, "Now why would I feel that?"

He frowned but then turned toward me, "And what about you? Did this news come as a shock or did you guess to?"

I thought again about telling the truth, but dismissed it. Finally I lied, "I guessed. There had to be a reason you went to the Templars, you don't have the proper temperament to be one. So, yeah it wasn't that hard to figure out."

He thought about that for a moment and then asked, "And how did you figure out I was the royal heir?"

Realizing my mistake I thought quickly to try to correct it. I failed. Instead I just said lamely, "Everything else has happened like a story, why not this too?"

Alistair looked at me funny for a moment and then shook his head, "We're going to have to have a long talk about your powers of guessing someday. In the meantime, let's go see the Arl."

He led us back to the main group where Morrigan and Sten were having one of their "discussions" about subjects best forgotten about. I seem to remember it involving a piece of wood.

They quieted down when we approached again and Morrigan asked, "So are you all done plotting?"

Alistair raised an eyebrow, "Morrigan, I never thought you'd think us capable of plotting."

She shrugged, "I don't, but I thought I would try being nice for once. You know, for a change of pace."

"I'm sure," Alistair muttered. "Now let's go catch up to Ser Donall."

The entrance to Redcliff in those days was a single stone bridge and a road which led to either the castle, or the town depending on which way one travelled. Ser Donall was conferring with a villager near the gate leading up to Redcliffe Castle. He turned back as we approached and said, "It seems we have gotten back at an evil time. Undead creatures emerge each night to attack the village. They have started to run out of able-bodied men to defend the town."

Alistair asked, "How long has this been going on?"

The villager looked at him, the fear obvious in his eyes, "Almost a week. A third of the militia are dead. Even more are wounded."

Alistair nodded and said, "Okay. Take us to whoever is in charge."

The man still looked scared but nodded. "That would be Bann Teagan in the Chantry."

Alistair put a calming hand on his shoulder and said, "Take us to him."

The man seemed to be caught between his terror and some sense of hope that maybe the newcomers would be able to help. Finally he nodded and said, "Follow me."

He led us down into the village of Redcliff. The hill leading down was littered with the corpses of undead that had been slain over the past several days, and scattered among them were dozens of people who had died defending their home. The others didn't even seem to notice, but I felt like vomiting again. Some of the bodies had obviously been there for several days and it was the middle of summer. Most of the bodies were bloated from the buildup of gasses, and most had turned green or purple from decomposition. Finally I looked up, stared straight ahead and just stopped breathing the entire way. It didn't help that much. As soon as we came to the stream that came through the town I threw up into it. Alistair and Morrigan didn't even notice since they were used to my squeamishness, Sten gave me a look of disgust, and Leliana smiled sympathetically as I caught up with them. She was looking rather green from the carnage too, but was able to hold it in better than I ever could.

In front of the Chantry an elf was drilling about two dozen men in swordplay. He wasn't teaching anything fancy, just how to hold a shield properly and extremely basic attack techniques. Near them were blankets laid out and thirty militiamen were sleeping. Another small group was sitting around gambling to pass the time. The looks on the men's faces though said a lot about the situation. They looked up at us with the faces of people who had accepted they were all going to die, but weren't willing to just let it happen.

The villager led us to the door of the Chantry and then the elf waved him over. The man said, "Bann Teagan is in there. I hope you can help." With that he stepped away and headed over to speak to the elven teacher. Alistair shrugged and pushed open the Chantry doors.

Inside were crowded almost one thousand people; women, children, elderly, and the injured (almost three hundred men in total) sat around talking, weeping quietly, or just stared around them in shock at what was happening. At the front of the Chantry a man in the clothing people wear under their armor was talking to a man dressed in finer clothes than those around him, but still nothing compared to some of the nobles.

Alistair recognized one of them and quickly left us behind to greet him. The rest of us picked our way carefully through the maze of people and bedding that was scattered around the building. When we arrived at the front of the building Alistair was in conversation with the man and hardly noticed us at first until the second man cleared his throat and said, "Sirs, I think the rest of your group is here."

Alistair turned back to us and said, Right you are. Teagan, these are my current traveling companions: Sister Leliana of the Lothering Chantry, William something-or-other of somewhere, Sten of the Bearsad (Alistair never was good with foreign names), and this is Morrigan." He rushed through that last one and to be honest if Teagan caught it I would have been surprised.

Teagan nodded to each of them and looked as though he was going to ask for Morrigan's name again, right up until he noticed her expression and seemed to think better of it. Instead Teagan asked, "So Alistair, what is it you and your traveling companions are doing here?"

Alistair scowled, "As you've probably figured out Ostagar was a disaster."

Teagan nodded, "Well of course, and Loghain essentially put himself on the throne and has demanded the Banns bow before him. Most of us refused."

Alistair blinked, "Okay, didn't know that. Are we really having a civil war in the middle of a Blight?" Teagan was silent, which was all the answer he needed. Finally Alistair shook his head and muttered, "Don't you just love how the threat of imminent doom unites people? Anyway, I was hoping to get Arl Eamon's support and call a Landsmeet against Loghain. We came here after Donall told us Eamon was sick. I don't suppose there was any change before all this happened?"

Teagan shook his head. "No, Isolde blamed some mage for poisoning Eamon."

Alistair hung his head, "Well, damn. I guess that options gone for now. So, one of the men told me these attacks have been going on for the past week, what exactly is it we're facing?"

Teagan sighed, "I don't know. Every night undead come out of the castle and attack us. After the second night we tried to evacuate but they attacked as we started to climb the road. That was the worst day. Forty men killed and another sixty injured before we could fall back here."Each night things get a little worse. More and more corpses come out each night and our men get more and more tired. Honestly I don't know why they don't just keep coming and wipe us out."

Alistair nodded, "Okay, what can we do?"

Sten spoke up before Teagan could think of everything that needed doing. "Why are we helping? Our job is to stop the Blight. Helping this town gains us nothing."

Alistair and Teagan both froze and looked at Sten. Neither one had seen that kind of objection coming. Fortunately I had (well, sort of) and had an answer ready. "Because, we need the combined forces of the realm to fight the Blight effectively. If we leave the town to die we leave no possibility of gathering the forces necessary to defeat the Blight."

Sten scowled but didn't answer. Instead Alistair smiled and said, "Exactly, now what can we do to help?"

Teagan collected his thoughts and said, "You'll want to talk to Ser Perth up near the windmill. He and his men have been trying to hold the area each night so the fight isn't on more than one front."

The other man, named Murdoch, also spoke, "You'll want to talk to Darrian Tabris out in front of the Chantry. He's the elf you probably saw drilling the militia. I don't know where that boy got his training but he's at least as good a swordsman as any of our knights. If anyone knows what the militia needs it will be him."

Alistair nodded and said, "Okay, Sten and I'll go talk to Ser Perth. William you and Leliana go talk to Tabris. Morrigan, try not to kill anyone." Morrigan scowled at him.

With that final thought he and Sten headed out of the Chantry. Leliana started to move toward the door, but I took a moment to tell Teagan, "You might want to go around the Chantry and talk to people. More specifically there is a girl near the entrance named Katelyn who's lost her brother. You might want to help her. He's in a dresser on the first floor of their house."

Teagan looked at me with a rather puzzled expression on his face and asked, "How do you know?"

I shrugged and answered over my shoulder, "I know everything."

Outside Darrian had sent the group he had been working with to rest, and woken up another group to drill. Leliana purposefully strode through the drilling militia as if she didn't have a care in the world. I went around them.

Darrian stopped as we approached and said, "Yes, what is it? I'm busy."

Leliana smiled, "I assume you're Darrian Tadris. Murdoch said we should talk to you about getting the militia more prepared for combat."

Darrian smiled tightly and thought about it. Finally he said, "Okay, there are a couple of things. I haven't been able to convince Owen and Berwick to even speak to me, and we need our equipment repaired. Let's see, there are some men out in the town I want in the militia too. I managed to force Lloyd to join, but Dwyn still refuses. I need trained fighters, not militia and Dwyn has the only remaining force in town. If you can get them out here our chances of surviving the night go up a lot."

I smiled and looked over to where Morrigan was standing, "Leliana and I can talk to Owen, and I think we have someone that can talk to Dwyn."

"Owen, open up. Tadris sent me over to talk to you." I beat on the door.

Inside a voice slurred, "Go away."

Instead I just knocked on the door again and called, "The militia needs you. Open up or we'll come in anyway."

There wasn't an answer and I stood aside for Leliana. She smiled and stepped forward holding a small piece of metal. A few moments later and the lock was undone. With a quick flourish Leliana pulled the door open and gestured me inside. I smiled and went inside first.

Once inside the smile quickly disappeared, to be replaced by coughing. As I might have mentioned a strong stomach hasn't been one of my strong points and alcohol makes me sick. Fighting down the nausea I said, "Owen. We need you to work on the militias weapons and armor before tonight."

The man looked up, his eyes unfocused. "I said go away. You bastards won't find my daughter. I won't help you…"

Leliana leaned over and whispered, "Ask what he means. What daughter?"

Instead I just said, "Look Owen. You're daughter is in the castle. She works as a servant right."

He nodded, an action that almost tipped him off the bench, "That's right."

I smiled calmly. "Then she's still up there and you're worried about here, it's perfectly natural. But she is perfectly safe right now. She'll know all the hiding places. If anyone can survive she can."

A glimmer of hope appeared in his eyes and he said, more understandably, "You think?"

I nodded, "Of course. Not only that, but we're going up there tomorrow using a secret tunnel. We'll find her and she'll be back by sundown in the evening."

Owen stood up, and almost fell over, but then he walked shakily toward us and wrapped the two of us in a huge hug. His breath left me slightly dizzy and both Leliana and myself had to steady ourselves for a few moments before Owen said happily, "In that case, go tell ole Tadris I'll work on anything he brings me. Just give a few minutes to get the forge going again,"

I nodded and said, "Thank you Owen."

Leliana and I rapidly departed and she whispered, "Why was I there?"

I looked back at her and answered, "backup. I thought I knew what was keeping him from his work, but if I was wrong you're the one who can improvise."

She smiled at the compliment and Darrian ran over to us from the new drill he was running. "Well?" he demanded.

Leliana was the one who answered, "Owen's agreed to help us, so long as we find his daughter for him tomorrow."

Darrian frowned, "Well, that's good news; but what about his daughter. I already told him the castle is barred shut. We can't get in."

Leliana looked at me, "Isn't there a secret passage in?"

Darrian shook his head, "Not that Teagan has told me, but I haven't exactly lived here long myself. Nesiara and I only moved in a few months ago."

Leliana asked curiously, "Oh, where did you live before that."

Darrian answered evasively, "Denerim… but there was… trouble."

Before Leliana could ask any more questions there was what sounded like a whip from the town and a dwarf appeared followed by two men and Morrigan who was holding a massive sword. Each one of them looked like they had just been mauled by an angry bear that had decided at the last minute not to finish them. Judging Morrigan's expression, I decided that was probably exactly what had happened.

As they neared us Dwyn shouted at Darrian, "You'll pay for that door, and the walls, and the ceiling."

Darrian raised an eyebrow and said, "Well I don't know about the other two, but so far your group seems to get results fairly quickly."

As if to prove him right Alistair and Sten descended from the windmill. Alistair was smiling and Sten looked at least mollified, then he saw the sword. With what was probably the closest thing to a gasp I've ever heard from a Qunari he ran over to Morrigan and took it from her. With a breath he said, "Asala." He then turned to her and demanded, "Where did you get this?"

She nodded to the dwarf and said, "After I knocked his sword away he brought it out of a back room."

Raising the sword Sten marched over to Dwyn and said, "You stole my sword, and now I will take from you the only thing even approaching its value."

With those words Sten raised the blade and prepared to bring it down when Darrian sprinted over to them, drawing his own sword as he did so. Dwyn cowered beneath the blade as Darrian prepared to stop the fight if he had Dwyn said, "I didn't steal it. I paid a traveling merchant for the blade. He claimed it came from a battle of giants."

Sten leaned down and said darkly, "Who was this merchant?"

Dwyn looked up and said, "His name was Faryn. I don't know where he was."

Sten lowered the sword temporarily mollified. "Very well, I will spare you for now. But if I find this Faryn he will pay for taking my weapon and those of my comrades."

Darrian breathed a sigh of relief and put up his sword. "Okay, now if we could all settle down. We've got a lot to do."

Alistair spoke up and asked, "Wouldn't it be easier to just hold one direction?"

Darrian turned to him and agreed, "Well yes. I suppose. The problem we don't have anything to keep it blocked up. They climb over barricades and we can't keep them from doing so."

Alistair frowned and said, "Well, I'm going to look around. There has to be something to narrow the area we have to defend down." He and Sten walked off to look for something, anything that might help in the coming battle.

As Alistair left I walked over to Darrian and asked, "Do you mind if we go looking through the buildings? There might be something we can use."

He thought about that and said, "Okay. I guess so. I'll have my wife show you where the main buildings are." With those words he headed over to the Chantry and disappeared inside for a few moments. He reappeared with a woman who was quite frankly more radiant than the sun. Next to me Leliana got busy picking her jaw up off the floor and I honestly couldn't blame her. I'm going to refrain from actually describing her since there is absolutely no way to give her justice.

When Darrian led her over to us he smiled and announced, "This is my lovely wife, Nesiara."

She smiled and said, "Nice to meet you. Darrian says you need the full tour of the town. We'll start with mine and make our way through the town." With a wave she motioned Leliana and I to follow.

We did so and I looked over my shoulder and called, "Coming Morrigan?"

She answered from a withering look. I shrugged, she must still be annoyed we had completely ignored her objections to defending this place.

Ahead Leliana was asking Nesiara about exactly how she and Darrian had come to Redcliff. After a few false starts she gave us the short version. "A little over year ago my family in Highever arranged a marriage with Darrian's father in the Denerim Alienage. The Couslands were good people, but my parents hoped I could make a better start in Denerim. Eventually it was all arranged and I came down to the city with a friend of mine named Valora, she was engaged to his cousin Soris, for the ceremonies. Before we could start though the Arl's son, Vaughn, showed up with some drunken friends to…" she stopped there to consider the next words before muttering darkly, "celebrate." Well after they knocked Darrian over another of his cousins, Shianni, punched the guy out.

"That was the beginning of the trouble that day. We started the ceremony and Vaughn showed up with guards this time. He kidnapped me, Valora, Shianni, and several other women. Well as you might imagine Darrian objected to that and was again knocked out of the way. This time though he had had enough and snuck into the castle with Soris. They poisoned some guards and then stole their weapons. What followed…" she paused again, her eyes positively shining, "was amazing. In a fury the two of them stormed the place. They killed at least two dozen guards on their way to save us. In one of the fights though, Soris was killed. Darrian wouldn't let that stop him though. He kept going and knocked the door of Vaughn's room just as he settled down. On his own Darrian killed every single one of the nobles in that room until only Vaughn was left.

"Vaughn, a bastard to the end offered all his money if Darrian let him go. Darrian agreed, took the money, and then killed him anyway. He got us all out before those bastards could do anything." She smiled widely again and continued, "we got back to the alienage and he asked if I wanted to run away with him. I said yes and we were out of the city in minutes. I wanted to go back to Highever, but we got word the Couslands were dead. He decided to go South instead and we settled here. He used the forty sovereigns Vaughn 'donated' to buy us a shop and no has found us." Nesiara finished with one final smile.

Leliana cheered at the end and said, "It's just like all those stories I heard in Orlais. Damsels in distress, heroes win the day, a daring escape in the name of love. That sounds wonderful."

Nesiara laughed and answered, "It is looking back on it, but it was terrifying at the time."

Leliana laughed back and said, "Aren't all adventures terrifying when you have them."

I stopped listening as the two of them kept talking about something, I honestly stopped paying attention to them about that time, until Nesiara stopped in front of a slightly larger building and said, "Okay, here's my store. Feel free to take anything that's still inside." As she said so Nesiara opened the door and waved the two of us inside.

Leliana and I entered and started going through everything in the building. The place was almost completely bare. We moved through quickly, checking the stock, but not finding anything at first until Leliana called me to look over some barrels she found near the back.

I walked over and looked inside. She asked, "Do you know what this is?"

I thought for a moment and then finally admitted, "no."

She put a finger in and tasted it, then motioned for me to do the same but I just looked at her like she was crazy. Leliana rolled her eyes and said, "It's oil."

I looked again and answered, rather puzzled, "No it's not. Oil is green, and shinyish."

She raised an eyebrow and said, "What kind of oil have you seen? This is proper lantern oil, at least a couple of barrels of it." She raised her voice and called, "Nesiara. Can you go and get some men to help us carry these out. I think we might have solved the second front problem."

Nesiara called, "Got it." We heard her footsteps receding and Leliana told me, "Let's start rolling these out."

There were a dozen barrels of lantern oil and they were full of oil, which as I realized that evening it actually was. After a few minutes the two of us had moved all the barrels out and Nesiara came back with twenty militiamen, most of whom were too terrified of her drill sergeant husband to question anything she said.

A couple of quick orders later and the militiamen started carrying the barrels back to the Chantry. Nesiara motioned toward the next building and asked, "So shall we go on?"

It took the three of us just over an hour to ransack the rest of the town. We didn't find anything else of any use. Finally Nesiara announced it was time to go back to the Chantry. The setup had been changed quite a bit. Alistair had been far busier than the three of us had been. Honestly after the third house we were taking as long as possible to avoid doing any kind of real work. Kind of assholish? Well, yeah but Leliana was a spy and I wasn't exactly the most motivated person at the time.

Alistair and Sten had been busy constructing a massive wall of human bodies all along the hill leading down from the windmill. Separating it into several sections were barricades. As we approached the area several men were finishing dumping one of the oil barrels onto the last section. As I would find out later Morrigan had destroyed the bridge leading into the town. The barricade wouldn't stop all the corpses but it would slow them down and funnel it enough so a small number could hold them without needing much backup. At the barricades in front of the Chantry several men were painting them with oil as well. The thing about fighting the undead was they weren't really stopped by barricades, but lighting these would let our militiamen see in the dark.

Darrian waved at us as we approached and he and Nesiara kissed. The men finished their work and came back to sit down near the prepared positions. Alistair walked over to Leliana and myself and said, "Good work finding that oil. It was just what we needed to finish making that wall. Now, get some rest we have less than two hours before the things attack; and somehow I doubt we'll get much rest before morning.


	5. Chapter 5

**Note: the second half of this chapter is not actually a part of the narrative, but is instead essentially what happened during the battle. The main story as told by the main character ends when the defenders go to sleep.**

Chapter V

A hand shook me awake and I blinked rapidly trying to figure out what was going on. In a rush I remembered and sat up. Around me others were doing the same or starting to arm themselves for the combat that was to come. A dozen militiamen were fastening the clasps that held their leather armor together. I stood up and stretched before picking up the first piece of the chainmail I was finally getting used to wearing; if only because Alistair had forced me to wear it for several days in a row to build up the strength needed to move in it naturally.

The armor went on easily enough, that was never the problem; it's taking it off again. Ten minutes later the armor was secured and everyone else was at the positions assigned to them. I grabbed my belt and put it on as fast as possible. The belt relieved some of the weight problems of the chainmail shirt and then I sat down to put on my boots.

I finished tying the first one when a green mist expanded out from Redcliff castle. Next to me Bann Teagan whispered, "It's started." I glanced over at him and saw a green longsword. I raised an eyebrow at him and he shrugged and mouthed, explain later."

From the lake the first corpses started to emerge and dark silhouettes started coming down the hill. I frowned, wondering exactly what was missing. The question was answered as Alistair shouted back, "William. Make yourself less useless and find out what's taking Leliana so long."

I nodded and grabbed my little book of paper matches. With a quick breath I jogged toward the barricade. Leliana was kneeling there swearing. The wind was picking up and she couldn't get a spark to land on the oil. I came to a stop next to her and said, "Okay shield some of the wind. Leliana looked at me doubtfully, obviously not thinking someone who took twenty minutes to start a campfire could get this going.

I struck a match and quickly thrust it into the barricade. The oil ignited and the top of the pile was soon engulfed in flames. As it did so Ser Perth came up with Sten and told us, "Okay. Get back to the main area. We can hold any of them that make it across."

Leliana nodded and sprinted off back toward the waiting defenders. I nodded and started to run, only to remember that while I could walk or jog in this armor actually running was out of the question. So jogging it was.

The barricades around the Chantry, but far enough away not to let the flames spread, had been lit up to give them more light against the undead. As I was about halfway to the position the undead forces reached the waiting defenders. The undead had a variety of weapons: axes, hammers, swords, and even just their fists. They were wearing armor in various states of disrepair, the result of days of not even amateur care.

Upon seeing the fight start I slowed down and returned to walking. Hey, no reason to rush into a fight I would be completely unhelpful in. It took me almost two minutes to cross the one hundred yards back to the lines, staying outside the flickering lights in the, probably futile, hope the undead couldn't actually see in the dark that well.

Whatever it was it worked and I came back into the area via one of the side openings. As I did so a voice from the side yelled, "William, down."

Since staying out of the way and unnoticed was most of my goal at this point I obeyed without thinking. Good thing too, a moment later a flaming arrow shot by over my head and then another. I glanced up and saw Leliana shooting into the undead's ranks, trying to pick off any with larger weapons or better armor.

Next to her Morrigan was waving her hand occasionally, and those times were marked by a sudden increase in the volume, and then a short period of silence and the shattering of ice.

For two hours the militia fought almost non-stop when finally Alistair broke away from the combat and moved back to where the three of us were waiting. Leliana had run out of arrows about an hour before, she was now waiting for any kind of gap to appear in the militia that she could fill. Seeing Alistair moving back Lelinana drew her daggers and sprinted to take his place before the undead could exploit a breach.

Alistair reached the stairs of the Chantry and yelled over the clash of steel, "We're going to need that second group a bit earlier than planned. Tell Darian to have the men ready to be out here as soon as possible."

His orders complete Alistair moved back into the fight as the first militiaman fell. Grateful for an actual excuse to avoid fighting I retreated even farther and pulled the chantry door open.

I ducked inside and almost ran into Darian who was pacing impatiently next to the door. He looked up and asked, "Well?"

It took me a moment answer, but finally I said, "They're going to need reinforcements a little earlier than expected. I couldn't really talk to anyone, but I think the attacks are more intense than previous ones."

Darrian nodded, "I was afraid of that. Okay. Make the announcement. We'll try to get the other group out to rest and eat. Just have them ready to go again when we have to get pulled out."

I smiled, finally something that actually played to my strengths. Quickly I moved up to the podium where the Chantry mother would usually speak from and announced in my loudest voice, "Attention militiamen. I'm afraid I'm going to have to cut short your evening. Darrian is calling you up a little earlier than planned. Get your weapons and line up near the door."

There was silence for a few moments, but slowly the men started to get ready. After a few minutes Darrian roared in his drill sergeant voice, "He said move, damn you." The men might have been willing to strain my patience, but not Darrian's. In about half the time it had taken them to pick their weapons up the line was forming.

When the men were finished Darrian pushed the doors open, and outside the militia had been pushed bacl and the barricades in front of the Chantry were starting to burn down. There were regular flashes from Morrigan trying to plug every breach in the militia's line as they fell back toward the Chantry door. Darrian motioned forward with his sword and led the second wave of militia out into the melee.

As the fresh soldiers moved into the fight they began to push the undead back to the original barricade lines. In groups of two or three the original group of militiamen began trickling back inside. The men fell onto the seats the others had just vacated. Alistair was the last one to reenter and he closed the doors behind him and walked up to where I was standing.

He looked up and then frowned, "Did you even fight?"

I blinked then answered, "Yeesss… Maybe… no I didn't."

He nodded, "Yeah, that's what I thought. Well, make yourself useful and get something for the militia to drink. We're going to have to be out there again pretty soon."

I went to work since it was actually something I could do. Since the attacks began all the consumables had been gathered together in a single part of the Chantry, under militia protection during the day and watched over by Bella, the inn's serving girl and future owner.

She saw me coming and picked up the first tray of mugs and handed it over. She picked up one as well and we carried them out. Bella was the one experienced in passing out drinks, I mainly stood behind her and waited for her tray to empty so we could switch. Within minutes Bella had handed out all of her mugs, took my tray and sent me back to get another.

It took almost half an hour to get everything passed out to the resting militia. By the time we had finished the injured were being tended by the women with any kind of medical training. I detached myself from Bella as I started paying attention to what they were doing.

Fighting down the nausea that always comes to me with the smell of blood and… other things; I rushed over to them. Confirming what I thought was going on I took in what they were doing and shouted, "No, no, no. None of you disinfected those have you?"

They looked at me and one of the women said, "Yes. We put vinegar in the wounds and are getting ready to bandage them.

I rubbed my forehead and said, "Well then get ready for a quick lesson in medicine. We need hot water, and lots of it."

One of the women looked at me like I was an idiot. "Why? It'll take hours to boil the water."

I thought about that for a moment and called Alistair over. He approached and I said, "Alistair could you get Morrigan in here before she completely runs out of power." He looked at me much like the women had, but nodded and went outside to get her. I turned back to them and said, "Okay, let me say this if your instruments are disinfected with boiling water and you wash your hands the chances of survival increase a lot. Too bad we don't have any blue mold though."

All of them again seemed to think I was crazy, but stayed quiet. Probably a side effect of carrying a sword to be honest, and maybe because their surgeries hadn't exactly been effective the past several days. Alistair arrived with Morrigan as the women were gathering up their surgical instruments, and some volunteers from the militia were filling a small cauldron with water. Another pair of militiamen had smashed up some of the wooden boxes.

Morrigan stopped and looked over us and demanded, "Well?"

I pointed toward the cauldron. "We need that cauldron boiling as soon as possible. How long would it take you to heat it?"

She raised an eyebrow at me, but was too tired to actually argue. With a quick motion Morrigan heated the cauldron as fast as she could without blowing the whole thing up. Within minutes the water was boiling. I ordered the women to get bandages together and used a set of calipers to hold the instruments underwater for a few minutes.

Then I realized we didn't actually have a clean surface to put them on. Thinking quickly I grabbed my coat and laid it out, putting the instruments on it one by one.

A quick bar was put over the cauldron and we draped the bandages over them to let the steam work. It wasn't anything to write home about, but a good first step toward the safer medicine practiced today.

Some of the water was taken from the cauldron and I ordered each person to wash their hands thoroughly once it had cooled. Again they seemed to think I was crazy, but a quick show of the sword got them to do it fairly quickly.

A few moments later the women all went to work.

As they did so I saw Alistair lining the militia up to go back outside. He motioned for me to stay there, probably realizing a person as bad at swordplay as me would be far more useful running a medical group.

The group marched out and I went back to supervising the "surgeons" at work and making sure the water kept boiling. When Darrian's group came back in I helped Bella organize another group to bring out water and light foods to keep the militia going.

Near the second hour after midnight (according to my watch at least, which actually put it closer to three in the morning after the last time I reset it), Darrian's group went back out. The sounds of combat drew closer and closer, until Darrian led his men back out. No one came back in.

At first the sounds of combat receded again, but this time less than an hour passed before they began to move in again. As the sounds reached their loudest Morrigan got up from where she was resting and went outside.

As soon as the door closed behind her there was a roar and the sounds receded. Half an hour later Morrigan came back inside, blood dripping from a dozen small injuries. She fell into a chair and told me, "If any of those people touch me, you're all dead. Understand."

I nodded nervously and told them not to talk to her. When I looked back Morrigan was muttering a spell under her breath and when she finished she went to sleep.

Hours passed in relative silence as we waited for the sun to rise. At 7:12 on my watch (or 6:12 in reality) the sound of combat outside faded and the door of the Chantry swung open. Darian came in, followed by Alistair, Leliana, Teagan, and the forty men who were still standing. Teagan raised a hand in triumph, then slumped against a wall and fell asleep. The rest of those who had fought followed suit.

I turned back to the women who had been working all night and announced, "Okay people. Get some sleep. I think you'll be needed again in a couple of hours. They nodded, but most were too tired to answer. I my weapon belt off, and dumped the chainmail unceremoniously on the ground, then grabbed my coat and used it as a pillow as I slumped against a wall and was soon asleep as well.

_The Night Battle_

"Okay people, let's go," announced Alistair.

The militia groaned. They had been hoping for a more extended rest, but the sounds of battle were drawing a little too close to the doors for Alistair's liking. The militia lined up and prepared to move.

Alistair looked around, spotting the idiot off with the women working on the injured. He thought for a moment about calling him over, but dismissed the thought. Honestly he was so bad at fighting it would probably be more of a hindrance having him helping. With a quick motion Alistair ordered him to stay where he was. With one final move Alistair pushed the door open and led the men out into combat. Forty five men emerged from the Chantry and found the second group of militia getting pushed back to the stairs.

Alistair's heart sank as he counted them. Darrian had started with fifty men, but was now down to just thirty five. Morrigan's absence had started to really be felt upon the field of battle. Thoughts raced through Alistair's mind before he remembered something almost completely forgotten after the disaster at Ostagar. Turning to his men he was relieved to find most of them had shields of varying quality. Alistair quickly ordered men with shields to take point and lock them together. The men obeyed as Darrian had beaten into them over the past week.

The shield wall advanced and Darrian's militia gladly gave way to let them take over temporarily, most of them ducking under the shields to avoid getting caught. The mass of men moving forward successfully pushed the undead back, not inflicting many casualties but taking none.

Three minutes after they entered the fray the shieldwall had pushed the undead back to the barricades. Seeing the effectiveness of Alistair's move Darrian quickly reformed his men into a similar formation and they moved up to reinforce them. The rest of the militia grabbed their shortbows and started firing arrows over the shields. The line began to stabilize and when it did Darrian thanked Alistair, ordered his men to hand their shields over to anyone who didn't have one and pulled his men back inside the Chantry.

For two hours the shieldwall held with almost no casualties. Even so the undead began to overwhelm with sheer numbers and started pushing them back. The steady retreat started out slow and orderly, but began speeding up as the shieldwall approached the stairs of the Chantry. Eight men were lost in minutes as the wall began to cave in. However, even as the men reached the first steps of the chantry the doors creaked open behind them. Alistair glanced over his shoulder and saw Darrian's men emerging.

Looking at the way the men were standing, a wedge he realized what was going on and shouted, "Break."

The men needed no other order. They pulled out of the line and ran up the stairs. As they did so Darrian led his men in a charge downwards. They drove into the pack of almost sixty undead now advancing up the steps. The horde was pressed back, and Alistair led his men around the side, hitting the flank of the pack. The two groups met slightly inside the pack, completely surrounding a group of eight undead.

Darrian saw the opportunity and ordered a shieldwall formed completely around the group. The militia on the outside of the surrounded group brought their shields around or moved aside so others could. When the wall was made Darrian ordered them to push inside. They did so. Men fell out of the shieldwall as the perimeter shrank. Darrian ordered them to do so again, this tiem pressing the undead into each other. Twice more the militia slammed their shields into the undead until they were trapped in an area of just four square feet.

With the undead packed into such a small area they were unable to even bring their arms up to attack, and the militia stood to far away to bite. The men quickly brought up axes, clubs, and swords. They brought them down on heads and shoulders, smashing bones and destroying the weapons the undead used to attack. Final blows from axes onto the creatures spines and legs to completely incapacitate the body ended the fight.

Darrian and Alistair led five more encirclement moves, wiping out the entire undead pack in less than nine minutes. Grateful for a break in the action men rested near the barricades, their arms sitting nearby. The interlude lasted almost ten minutes before more undead appeared from the lake. Darrian started shouting and men grabbed their weapons and moved back to position.

Soon the line had reformed at the barricades which had now burned down to cinders. To their left the massive bonfire blocking a second flank was still burning, but even it was starting to come down. Sten, Ser Perth, and Dwyn were getting ready to fight regularly rather than having to destroy the odd monster that managed to avoid incineration on the fire.

This time over one hundred monsters came pouring out of the lake and slammed into the militia before they could fully reform their shieldwall. The center of the line was rapidly separated from the rest and the men went back to back, forming an early version of the schiltrom later used largely by the Nevarran, and later Kirkwall militaries. Unlike those however the militia were forced to fight with their shields locked together and using swords and axes rather than pikes. The rest of the militia was either overrun or retreated to the Chantry. Alistair and Darrian tried to lead a counterattack to retake the barricades, but were repelled by sheer numbers each time.

As they thought the battle might well be lost the low sound of the Chantry door closing sounded behind them. Alistair glanced over his shoulder and saw Morrigan standing there. He had honestly never been more relieved to see her. Before anyone else could notice though Morrigan began to twist, she grew and grew, her head enlarged and nose came forward. Seconds later she completed the transformation into a bear. She stood on her hind legs and let loose a roar. With a rapid motion Morrigan charged into the undead horde. Wherever her paws went undead bones were shattered, heads came off, arms and legs were bitten off.

Morrigan's presence turned the entire fight around in fifteen minutes. Alone she killed thirty undead before the militia counterattacked. The militia pushed back against the undead as Morrigan transformed back into herself and let loose a massive wave of freezing cold into another group of undead. There were small injuries from where undead had ripped or bitten her, but Morrigan ignored them. Again she swept her staff around, this time letting loose blasts of lightning out of one hand while the staff swept the legs of one of the monsters out from under it. With a quick move Morrigan swept her staff down on the creatures head, shattering the skull.

Half an hour after Morrigan had entered the fight she nearly collapsed from amount of energy she had expended. Leliana caught her, half carrying Morrigan back to the Chantry doors. There Morrigan waved her off and said, "Get back to the fight."

Leliana did so and Morrigan went through the door. Hours passed with small numbers of undead swarming up occasionally, and at one point penetrating the flaming barrier blocking the hill, before being destroyed by Sten and Ser Perth. Mysteriously Dwyn was found dead, no one ever main threat, though, was over. At the end, as the sun peaked up over the horizon, Bann Teagan who had stood as an infantryman led the men back inside the Chantry. Everyone inside looked up as Teagan raised a hand in triumph. Moments later he slumped against a wall and fell asleep. Everyone saw it as a sign and followed suit.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's note: ASDF- There will be one more as far as I've planned for right now at least, of the possible Warden's by the end of the story.**

Chapter VI

I woke up some four hours after falling asleep. My watch claimed it was 11:30 or so. With a motion I had practiced a lot over the last few weeks I reset the time and wished I knew how to change the time format on it. Just to explain, Thedas operates slightly differently than where I come from. Okay, it operates a lot differently, but this particular detail is small. Thedas has days that are a little over 25 hours back home. This means that every day my watch which was based on the 24 hour day was ahead by one hour. It was still the most accurate timepiece ever, up until the battery died many years ago, but I always had to reset it.

With a quick move I stood up, and stretched for a moment. Most of the rest of the Chantry was asleep. The militia had been fighting all night, most of the women had been working on something or other the whole night, I had supervised for lack of a better term. Not wanting to wake anyone I carefully tiptoed to the Chantry door and slipped outside.

The area in front of the Chantry was a disaster area. Dozens of bodies and even more of the undead lay scattered across the field in front and the sickly sweet smell of burning meat hung in the air. I gagged with revulsion at the stench and quickly went back inside. When the door shut I grabbed my canteen, swirled water in my mouth and spat it in one of the trays we had set up the night before.

I heard a "shh" from farther in and saw Bella working over the makeshift fireplace making some kind of stew from what food was left. I walked over to see if there was anything I could do, but she waved me away, probably a good move on her part considering the usual results when I use a fire to cook. Instead I set up a small fire in a small firepit that had been made and put a small pot of water over it. It took almost an hour for the fire to reach a point I could actually do anything with it, and another thirty minutes for the water to boil. I used a cloth cloak lying nearby to carefully lift the kettle off and poured the water into a cup filled with dried fruit and nuts. It rested there a while and then I slowly drank it.

Needless to say the results were utterly disgusting, but the feeling of a hot drink woke me up a little more. As I finished it off the militia began to wake up from the smell of Bella's cooking and at Darrian's (shouted) instruction took a bowl or cup and waited in line for her to ladle some out. Leliana and Alistair came and sat with me, Sten sat talking to Ser Perth, the two had developed a mutual respect in the night's combat, and Morrigan ate alone, ignoring calls from the militia groups to join them. I was a tad confused about that until Alistair explained about Morrigan emerging as a big damn hero the night before to save them all. He seemed to have a little more respect in his voice this morning and Leliana was practically gushing about it.

Before the two of them could announce Morrigan as their new beloved Bann Teagan sat down and said, "Okay. So we need to get into the castle. Alistair, with your Templar training you might be able to find the mage responsible for this and shut him down."

As he finished Leliana looked sideways at me and asked, "There's a secret passage isn't there?"

Teagan was surprised for a moment before answering, "Yes. There is. I don't like to talk about it. It was built sometime ago and leads into the dungeons. From there you can find the mage and kill him."

Leliana gave me a look and that quite clearly said we were going to be discussing this later and asked, "I'm ready when you people are. Let's storm a castle."

Alistair finished eating then went to change the underclothing of his chainmail. Leliana got her bow and waved Morrigan and Sten over. She quickly filled them in on the plan. Sten was happy to be chasing down the cause of this, but Morrigan wasn't so sure. "Are you people really sure a mage is behind this? It seems a little too much for one person to do. I couldn't accomplish this kind of thing, and I don't think many others could either. More likely it's a demon, and I'm not sure I can fight it right now. That battle took a lot of power from me."

Deciding that it would be safer to let them in on exactly what was going on this time I spoke up, "Morrigan's right. This isn't a mage. It's a demon."

Alistair and Leliana both looked at me, and finally Alistair asked, "Okay, I can accept that Morrigan would recognize something like that, but you? So far as I can tell you don't know anything beyond a more disciplined style of warfare than we do?"

I shrugged then lied, "Well, I don't have the experience with mages" (that part was true enough) "but Morrigan has a point, what kind of apostate has the power to raise hundreds of corpses at the same time every night?"

Again I got a funny look, but the explanation was logical enough it didn't get questioned. Alistair thought it over and slowly nodded. "You two are probably right." He swore quietly then turned to Teagan and said, "Well, let us get geared up, then lead the way."

The windmill was a fairly small one. Teagan motioned toward the door. "It's inside. There's a hidden trapdoor. My signet ring can open it."

A couple of questions sprung into my mind at that, namely why a bann of a completely different region would have access to this passage. Ah well, Ferelden nobility never worked logically even when it had power. Darrian opened the door to lead us inside when a cry came from up the hill. I groaned, I had honestly hoped to avoid this nonsense. Running down toward us was a woman, one that only Alistair and Teagan recognized. She was fairly short; I thought so at least, but I'm about three inches taller than average in Ferelden so that might not mean much; she had red hair, and wore the dress of an arlessa.

She came to a halt slightly in front of us, and as she did so Teagan said in surprise, "Isolde? How are you still alive, what's going on?"

She caught her breath and said in a rush, "Oh thank the Maker I found you Teagan. I escaped as soon as I could tell the battle was over."

Morrigan snorted when Isolde stopped for breath, "Well, isn't that a little convenient."

Isolde straightened and looked over at us. I took a moment to glance at the others and saw that for once Darrian, Morrigan, Leliana, Sten and I were all in agreement about what doubting Isolde's honesty. Alistair had quietly slipped back to be out of her immediate focus. Isolde managed to pull herself up and demanded, "Teagan, who are these…" she paused to consider the least offensive word for our little band of nuts, "people?"

Teagan was about to tell her the truth when I shook my head to tell him not to. Isolde had turned back to him and didn't notice. Quickly Teagan lied, "Oh, they're mercenaries who were in the area. They organized the defenses last night."

Isolde curtsied slightly to us all, except probably Morrigan and Alistair whom she hadn't noticed yet. Finally she continued, "An evil presence has taken hold of Conner. That's the cause of all this," she motioned toward the smoke still rising from the bonfires and bodies of those who had died the night before being burned. "I need you to come back with me. You're his uncle Teagan, you might be able to get through. You have to come."

Teagan thought about it and finally said, "Isolde, would you mind letting us talk for a moment? I'll give you my answer in a moment."

The arlessa nodded slightly and let us walk over to the other side of the windmill, outside her hearing. When out of earshot Alistair demanded, "You can't possibly be thinking about going up there?"

Teagan nodded, "Of course I am. She needs me to help. My nephew could be in horrible danger up there if I don't go."

Finally I spoke up, "Or more likely he's the cause."

The group looked at me with obvious opinions of that thought. I shrugged and rapidly thought up an explanation, "Well think about it. Her son is possessed by some kind of 'evil force,' that sounds like the demon we've been looking for to me. It follows that if he's the one being possessed he was the one who summoned it."

Teagan was silent for a moment before almost shouting back, "That's impossible. Conner isn't a mage, how could he summon a demon?"

Before I could come up with an answer that wouldn't reveal my information Morrigan swooped in to save that side of the debate, "And why can't he be a mage? How old is this boy? 5, 6?" She paused to see Teagon's slow nod, "That's about the age a normal mage starts exhibiting their power. He could easily summon a demon without training."

Alistair announced, "So it's agreed then. We can't allow Teagan to go with her. Now, next question, can we let her go back and let it know we're coming."

Teagan started to protest and Sten announced, "We can't. We will need to stop her somehow."

Again Teagan started to protest, when a pair of hands wrapped around his neck. They squeezed in a way no one else could replicate and Teagan's eyes went wide for a moment. He opened his mouth to say something, and started a sentence when he passed out.

Behind him was Leliana. Darrian and Alistair gaped openly at what she had done and even Morrigan looked impressed. Leliana ignored us, instead grabbing some rope from her pack and beginning to tie Teagan's hands together. She finished after a few moments, then rapidly did the same to his hands. With one final motion Leliana stuffed a gag in his mouth. She stood up and announced, "Okay go distract Isolde. I can do the same to her."

Alistair knelt down in front of Eamon and asked, "Is he okay?"

Leliana smiled in a way that reminded me what she had been not that long ago, "Of course he will be," she said in an unusual tone of voice, "he'll wake up in a minute, maybe less. It'll probably take about five minutes to spit the gag out, and a couple of hours to wiggle out of the restraints. We need to be gone by then. Oh," she finished, "and here's the ring." She tossed it into the air, caught it, smiled brightly, then moved off to deal with Isolde.

Alistair stood back up and motioned for us to follow her. As Leliana disappeared around the side of the windmill Darrian muttered to me, "Remind me not to get on her bad side."

I just nodded silently.

"Okay, here's a hammer," Alistair announced handing out smithing hammers Owen had loaned us. "If you see a corpse to smash the bones as soon as possible. If we can go through and smash them before the demon can bring them up this might be easy."

I picked up one that weighed about 3 pounds, or slightly heavier than the sabers used by Ferelden light cavalry and dragoons. While the rest of us were getting ready, Leliana was poking around the entrance of the tunnels and after a few minutes poked her head up from the entrance, keeping a piece of cloth over her eyes so her night/tunnel vision wouldn't be ruined. She announced, "The ladder goes down for quite a ways. From what I can tell it goes under the lake, and it hasn't been filtered in a while, which means…" She trailed off not wanting to give the bad news.

Alistair asked, "Yes?"

She again hesitated, so I answered. "No torches. The gases down there might well ignite if we light something down there. Which means," I shuddered, but there wasn't any alternative, "I'm going first."

Alistair was quiet for a moment then asked, "Why, and why are YOU volunteering?"

I reached into a pocket and pulled out my key ring. With a quick motion I flicked my flashlight on and said, "because of this. I'm the only one who can see where we're going."

He looked at the flashlight and I flicked it off again. "Okay, I can accept that; though I do have to ask exactly where you got that." I answered with a noncommittal shrug and Alistair decided to drop it and focus on more important things. "Okay Leliana start on down. We'll be after you."

She gave a little mock salute and started down again, still not taking her blindfold off. I grumbled then swung onto the ladder to follow her. The ladder went down for almost fifty feet before my feet touched the ground. The tunnel started a few feet further on, going slightly downward, but was only about five feet high. Leliana was sort of squatting farther inside, looking downward. Finally she turned around and shrugged, "Okay, it's too dark down there to bother with night vision."

As she finished Darrian dropped off the ladder and looked around as well. He groaned on seeing the tunnel and asked, "Maker, is that the tunnel we're using? Why can't it be normal sized?"

It took about three minutes for Alistair and Morrigan to come down and Sten started out behind them. He had decided to go last because the ladder was rather old and didn't look like it would survive many more trips. Sure enough while he was about ten feet from the ground there was a snap and the rung he was holding onto broke. Sten fell backwards, failing to catch himself and landed on his back in the mud. Behind him the entire bottom fifth of the ladder had been smashed by his armored boot on the way down. Alistair and Darrian grabbed Sten's arms and hauled him up, an exercise that took a couple of minutes. Sten had had the wind knocked out of him and a fully armored Kossith weighed something close to 450 pounds. Finally they succeeded and Sten leaned against a wall and breathed deeply for a few minutes before he nodded to them in thanks.

Alistair looked at the ladder and said, "Well, that's one way we won't be going back up. No way on but forward." He motioned to me and said, "well then, lead the way."

I gulped and started down the tunnel. Leliana followed just behind with Alistair, Darrian, Sten followed and Morrigan brought up the rear. All of us had to stoop over to pass through, mud and other gunk covering armor and clothing, Sten practically had to crawl through the tunnel which must have been miserable.

The tunnel went on for what seemed like forever. It sloped downward for what was according to my watch about twenty minutes before starting back up at a smaller elevation. Finally we came to another ladder. This one was in slightly better condition than the last one and Leliana started up it first. A few minutes later she called down, "This one's much shorter. It comes out in a dungeon."

Alistair called back, "Okay. We'll be up in a moment. He turned and said, "So, who wants to go first."

Darrian and I looked at each other, obviously hoping the other one would volunteer. Finally he said, "I'll go."

Darrian started climbing the ladder and Alistair ordered me to follow. This ladder was as Leliana said much shorter, only about twenty feet tall and came out in a small cell in the Redcliff dungeons. Leliana and Darrian were sitting there checking over their equipment to make sure the mud hadn't ruined it. Finally Leliana threw her bow down in disgust, "It's ruined. The string's useless." She whirled her daggers out and said, "Well at least these are fine."

Over the next several minutes the rest emerged in the cell until there really wasn't any room left. Alistair gave everyone a few minutes to make sure their equipment was fine and then ordered everyone out of the cell. Outside were lines of empty cells, several standing open and empty. The rest had skeletons of people who had died in there since their jailers stopped coming. Leliana was a little ahead of us and quietly announced, "There are some corpses up ahead. They're already up and moving. Get ready."

I picked the hammer up as Alistair and Darrian did the same. Sten got his greatsword out and with a quick count Alistair ordered us forward. He and Darrian burst out of the passage into another cell block where five corpses were trying to enter another cell. They turned as the two of them charged, Sten slightly behind. Alistair's hammer caught one on the jaw as Darrian smashed the lower leg of another. With a quick motion Sten smashed his sword into two more, crushing its ribs and then he stamped down on its legs in rapid succession. The last standing corpse got Alistair's hammer in its chest and Darrian swept low knocking the corpse over. With quick blows the three of them destroyed the limbs of each one. While the corpses were still "alive" they weren't a threat anymore. Alistair started onward when Leliana said, "Hey, there's someone in there."

The rest of us looked in the cell to see if she was right. Sure enough there was a man cowering inside. We couldn't really see him so I shone the light inside. The man looked up and said, "Are you here to finish me then?"

Alistair stepped up and ignoring the question asked, "Why are you in here?"

The man laughed darkly, "I poisoned the Arl. Then the demon showed up. The first couple of days Isolde demanded I do something about it, then she stopped coming and the walking corpses started."

"So then did you summon the demon?" Leliana asked with some suspicion.

He shook his head, "No. I poisoned the Arl because I was promised a pardon by the Queen's father. I thought I was doing the right thing for once. Turns out I was just screwing up even more. The demon was summoned by the boy."

Alistair turned his head back to look at me and said, "Well, looks like you were right. Conner is the source of all this." He turned back toward the man inside the cage and asked, "Well, what should we do with you?"

He laughed darkly, "If you're smart you'll kill me now and save yourselves trouble later. I'm not exactly the safest person to be around. I've ruined the lives of the people I was closest too and now screwed this up too. I would help fix this if I can, but honestly I doubt my ability to do something right this time around either."

Alistair stepped away and motioned us to follow. He led us back into the first section of the dungeon and asked, "What do we do with him?"

Morrigan was the first to answer, "Let him out. He's been punished enough and if he could help us I say let him."

No sooner was she done than Sten had a completely opposite opinion, "We kill him. He tried to poison a superior. By his own admission everything he's done has blown up in his face. Kill him now and we don't need to worry about him ruining our plans."

Leliana and Darrian were the first to argue against this. Leliana's argument boiled down to her feeling his punishment already suited his crime. Darrian claimed we didn't have the authority to either kill him or let him go. Finally after they ceased arguing for a few moments I asked, "Why don't we just leave him? We're visiting the Circle in a few centuries anyway. We can hand him over to the Templars there and they decide what to do with him."

The group quieted slightly and finally Alistair asked, "What do the Templars have to do with this?"

I gulped and realized Jowan, that was his name, hadn't actually mentioned he was a mage. Finally I got my thoughts together and answered, "Well think about it. He was here to poison the Arl and no one suspected him. Why? Because he was the one who was brought in to train him, which means he's a mage; probably an apostate or blood mage seeing how he needed a pardon. We hand him to the Templars and ensure their cooperation… just in case."

The rest of them thought about that and finally came to the conclusion that my argument was convincing. Alistair and Leliana again gave me a look that quite clearly said we were one day going to have a long conversation about how I knew or had figured out so much but again they put it off.

Alistair said, "Okay then, I can agree to that. Anybody else have a problem?"

Darrian and Leliana shook their heads, Sten was mollified at the promise of punishment, and Morrigan honestly didn't care enough and was too tired to argue the point. Alistair said, "Then he goes to the Templars when this is over. Now let's keep going."

He led us back through, ignoring the man in the cell on our way out. In the entrance to the dungeons were scattered bodies and we quickly moved to smash their bones before they could rise up. Of the twelve bodies that were there ten of them were broken by the time they began to wake up. The final two were destroyed by Alistair and Sten before they could even get to their feet. We quickly started up the stairs before any corpses upstairs started down. Alistair came out on the main floor first, shield pointing forward in case anything was waiting for us. Sten and Darrian followed. I was behind them, mainly because I'd been ordered to be and bringing up the rear were Morrigan and Leliana.

The main floor was swarming with almost a dozen corpses that turned and charged us. Alistair and Darrian were among them almost immediately, followed quickly by Sten. Leliana and Morrigan hung back. Morrigan was saving her strength in case we had to face the demon and Leliana's daggers weren't the best anti-corpse weapons. I advanced slowly, trying to get there shortly after the other three finished off the corpses. Instead one broke off and rushed me.

I fell backwards as it approached and the training, what little of it I had, kicked in. With a quick motion my saber was in hand and I brought it up and then brought it down in fast panicked swing. The sword slammed against the corpse's hand and kept going. After a few moments the blade completely passed through it and the hand fell down. The corpse however didn't even slow down. It slammed the other hand into me and I stumbled backwards. I dropped the sword as I remembered the hammer and brought it up from where I had left it when the corpse originally charged and the tool slammed into the corpse's face. The bones smashed and brains sprayed outward.

The corpse was knocked backward and that gave me enough time to get a better grip on the hammer and using the same swing I used to split wood with a maul I brought the hammer down on the corpse's spine as it began to get back up. There was a sickening crack and the creature collapsed again. This time the legs and arms were incapable of pushing the corpse back up. It lay trying in vain to stand up again and I brought the hammer down on the arms and legs. A few moments later and the creature was incapacitated.

With the threat gone I fell backward and saw the others hand already managed to destroy the other eleven corpses and were waiting for me to get back up. I waited a few more seconds to catch my breath and got back on my feet. I picked up the saber and returned it to the sheath before nodding and saying, "Okay. I'm ready."

We continued down the corridor, being as quiet as four people in metal armor, a tired mage, and a lady in leather could be. That is to say, not very. Despite this we managed to sneak past the chapel without alerting the shades inside and avoid most of the corpses on the floor. As we neared the door to the cellar that would lead us to the main gates there was the sudden noise of advancing corpses; we quickly ducked into a nearby room and locked the door.

Inside Leliana watched through the keyhole for them to pass and the rest of us found a girl cowering in a corner. She was really thin, was breathing quickly, had flushed skin, and was shivering almost uncontrollably. As Leliana turned back toward us to signal the coast was clear I was thinking about what that might mean and realized she probably was at least moderately dehydrated by now, possible more.

The girl was afraid for a moment but I ordered, "Drink it. Now." She was scared enough to comply immediately. She started to down the whole thing but I stopped her and ordered, "Small sips first." Again she was too scared to do differently and drank the whole thing slowly, a process which took about ten minutes. The others were starting to get interested in what I was doing and so put off leaving to wait. After the girl was done with the water I turned to Alistair and asked for his as well. He shrugged and handed it over and I dug some salted food out of my bag. I handed both to the girl and ordered her to eat the food and again drink the entire canteen slowly. She did so and another five minutes passed before she was done.

Finally the girl nodded her thanks and said, "I needed that. I haven't been able to sneak out to get food or water from the kitchens for two days now. I don't suppose there's anymore is there?" When she asked Leliana pulled her own canteen out and tossed it over to me. I handed it to the girl along with some more food. She set it aside for a moment and I asked, "I assume you're Valena, Owen's daughter?"

She smiled and nodded, "Yes. I was trapped in the castle when all this started happening and I've been hiding in the rooms of this floor for what seems like forever." She paused and asked, "How did you'll get in, and who are you?"

I smiled and said, "We're Templars. We defended the village from last night's attack and we're here to rid the castle of the demon's presence." It was a lie, but a necessary one. Then continued, "As for how we got in, there was a secret tunnel in the dungeon but the entrance is now unusable. Hide out here for a little while longer. Once the demon is driven off we'll send someone to find you."

She smiled and nodded. "Of course sers."

The six of us left the room, Leliana making sure there weren't any corpses around first. When the door was shut Alistair demanded, "Okay, why tell her we were Templars?"

I looked at him and answered, "Alistair, she needed to hear it. Templars to her are anti-mage and demon people. Who else should I have claimed we were? 'Yeah, we're actually a combination of a member of a society that is considered traitors, a former spy, a wanted murderer, the daughter of Flemeth, a heathen, and someone who barely knows how to use a sword?' How would that have gone over?"

He thought it over and finally said, "Okay. I see you're point. It still feels wrong though. He started down the corridor again then suddenly stopped cold. He turned back toward me and said, "What did you say?"

I thought back over it and realized my mistakes. Leliana hadn't revealed anything about her past and Morrigan had never told us who her mother was. Fortunately I was saved from answering when Leliana came creeping back and hissed at us to follow quickly. Alistair gave me a look that clearly said this conversation wasn't over, which meant that talk about exactly how I knew or figured out things before I should be able to was coming rapidly nearer, and followed her. We came into a small room that had held Mabari, all of whom were dead from either dehydration, fighting one another for food, or Leliana's daggers went down another deserted hallway and entered the kitchens. The room was deserted thankfully and we easily crossed into the cellar. The smell of rotting food welled up and Leliana quickly pointed to the exit so we could leave.

Thankfully we didn't spend more than a minute in the cellar before heading up another staircase to the main courtyard of Redcliff castle. In the courtyard of course were over two dozen corpses, and a Revenant. They hadn't noticed us so Alistair quickly motioned everyone down. He glanced over at Leliana and asked, "I don't suppose you have your bow stashed away where I can't see it do you?"

She shook her head and sadly whispered back, "No. The mud ruined it. It's back in the passage. I need a new one."

Alistair swore quietly and said, "And we don't have any other ranged weapons either."

Finally I realized the time had come for my former secret weapon. I said quietly. "That's not true. I have one."

Alistair looked at me and raised an eyebrow, "Really? Do you have a miniature crossbow you've kept hidden all this time?"

I shook my head and instead of answered reached into my bag and felt the wooden handle of my cap and ball revolver. I pulled it out slowly and then reached in again for the ammunition. "Just a moment. Let me get it ready." Quickly I went through the method of loading the revolver, thankfully the powder had been premeasured and was in a watertight container in the bag. It took about two minutes for me to load all six chambers on the gun and seal the bullets in place. Finally the gun was ready and I asked, "Shoot the Revenant I assume?"

Alistair nodded and I got up, staying as concealed as possible while I aimed at it. I glanced down at them and said, "Be ready. This is going to be really loud." They nodded, but didn't actually do anything to prep themselves. I shrugged and decided to let them see the error of their ways. With a practiced move I set into the boxer's stance, took as firm a grip on the gun as I could, put my hands in position and pulled the trigger. The hammer came down and the revolver fired.

The bullet slammed home… in the Revenant's chest. I muttered, "Goddamnit." and thought back to what I'd done wrong. I'd pulled the gun down while pulling the trigger. With a quick motion I readied the gun to fire again as the Revenant and corpses began moving in my direction. Again I pulled the trigger, correctly this time and the bullet flew home, slamming into the Revenant's head. It staggered and again I fired. Again a bullet hit the demon and this time it collapsed where it was. As it fell I shouted at them, "Go. It's down."Darrian and Sten were the only ones to understand and charged the corpses in a began driving through them and a minute later were joined by Alistair as he figured out what I'd said.

The three of them kept the undead busy while Leliana saw something beyond the gate and quickly moved to the gate winch to open it. Realizing what she was doing I followed while Morrigan stayed away from the fighting for later. I caught Leliana as she began to turn the winch and joined her. It took the two of us several minutes to get the gate open, but when it was Ser Perth and the remaining knights of Redcliff charged in. They fell on the remaining undead and one by one the monsters fell. The fight lasted another two minutes before the undead were destroyed. We stood there panting for a few minutes while Ser Perth explained he had come across Teagan, still tied up but without the gag, a little while ago and figured out what we were doing.

As he finished and we caught our breath Alistair turned to look at the entrance to the main hall of Castle Redcliff and said, "It's time we put a stop to all this." Grimly he set off up the steps and behind him we followed.


	7. Chapter 7

** Wyolake: First off thanks for the review. And in case you're wondering the little exchange in this chapter is not the end of it. It will come up at least one more time in this story, and whether it comes up later I'm afraid would be spoilers for what I have planned.**

Chapter VII

"Okay," said Alistair as our small group stood before the doors. "If you see the kid or the demon, don't get close. Let me or Morrigan deal with them." We nodded, swords were drawn, daggers were readied, and I hung back so the others could go first.

Alistair pulled the door open slightly and slipped in. Sten followed then Ser Perth and his knights. Darrian and Leliana grabbed me and pulled me through the door with them and Morrigan as usual ended our little parade. The entrance hall was small for a castle, at least compared to Highever, Gwaren, or Denerim. It was maybe twenty feet tall, and some thirty long, and maybe another twenty feet wide. It was also completely empty of anyone. Alistair made a quick motion ordering us to keep quiet before leading us down a hallway leading into the great hall. At the entranceway, but still out of site from anyone inside Leliana stopped us and moved a little to the entrance. She peaked her head around the corner, quickly took in the room and ducked back before anyone inside had noticed her.

Her aim done Leliana motioned the rest of us back toward the entrance hall and took a piece of charcoal she'd grabbed that morning out. Quickly she drew a rough sketch and added seven figures. She pointed at six of them and whispered, "These are guards stationed around the room. Four of them are near the entrance, the others are near the throne; which the kid is sitting on. I can hit the two guards near the throne with my daggers. Alistair and Morrigan are taking the kid, the rest of you take out these four. If I miss one you'll have to stop the others."

We nodded and Alistair said, "Okay. Let's do it. We lined up near the entrance and with a quick nod Alistair raised his sword and charged inside toward the main throne. Morrigan went with him, muttering spells as she went and Leliana followed. As soon as she entered her first dagger flew out of one hand, it slammed home in one guard's throat. He went down and her second dagger flew to the second. This guard was more prepared and his shield came up, the dagger hit it and was embedded inside. The guard threw the shield aside and grabbed his crossbow. He brought it up and fired as the knights charged in. Ser Perth took the bolt in his chest and fell where he was. The other knights rounded on the other guards as Leliana scooped Perth's sword up and charged the guard with the crossbow.

Needless to say four guards who were brainwashed out of their minds against three fully armed and armored knights plus a rather grumpy kossith was not exactly a fight worth writing home about. It took maybe three seconds for each of ours to dispatch their opponent, by which time Leliana had reached the crossbow wielding guard and stabbed him in the chest as well.

Even as he fell the full brunt of the battle going on at the front of the room became clear. Alistair had been knocked away before getting the chance to use his templar training, while Morrigan matched the demon possessed child spell for spell. The demon launched a bolt of lightning and Morrigan responded by summoning a body of rock around herself to absorb most of the power. She answered with a blast of freezing magic, only to have the demon coat itself in fire. The two of them both launched massive chunks of the floor at each other, only to have the chunks hit each other in midair. Despite Morrigan's display of power though it was obvious the demon was winning. The sorceress's display of power the night before had drained her and without lyrium she there was no way she could even begin to draw on her full power. The demon on the other hand had always been stronger, and these bursts were barely draining it.

The battle finally tipped when Alistair managed to push himself back behind the demon and as it began to cast another spell he was the one who answered. A wall of templar power came down around him and the demon's magic was dispelled. It only lasted a moment, but that was all Morrigan needed. The full amount of power she could summon blasted the demon child where he/it stood and it was launched backwards, which unfortunately due to the way the duel had shifted as the two fought meant, straight toward the rest of us. The knights and I dove out of the way as the demon landed, but this time the boy managed to fight his way to the surface and he fled with obvious panic at the battle unfolding before him. No one made a sincere attempt to follow.

As soon as he was out of the room Morrigan collapsed. The knights following her example carefully sat down, most of them taking off their plate and leaving only the padded underclothing. The rest of our main group, plus Darrian, went over to sit with Morrigan to plot our next move.

Once there Alistair said, "Okay. If that really was the boy just now he'll have retreated upstairs. If it was the demon it will probably have done the same to prep for another attempt at us. We'll need to seal off the main stairway. I don't think we'll be able to go back for her once this is over."

Leliana nodded her understanding, then thought back over it and asked the obvious question, "What's to stop the undead from coming at us from another area of the castle."

Alistair smiled, "Then that's where its preparations get in the way. That main staircase is the only one in this section of the castle. In addition the doors have been locked, and the castle has had quite a bit of preparation for mage attack over the years. None of the doors can be destroyed with magic, and they are locked from this side. All we have to do is make sure we have the keys and those stairs. So, we got get Isolde, find out where the keys are and when we finish this off is all up to us."

A couple of relieved smiles appeared on our faces and Darrian said, "Well then. Let's do it." We had a brief argument over who got the "honor" of going to get her and finally Alistair and Darrian were picked. The two departed and Leliana followed. For several minutes the other three of us sat there thinking over what had happened today when suddenly Sten stood up and told me to come help him put a barricade in front of the stairs. He claimed we needed to start on it now so it would be done by the time the castle was sealed up, to which I asked why we couldn't wait for the others. He ignored me and I reluctantly followed.

As soon as we were outside the great hall his motivations became a tad more clear. With a quick motion Sten grabbed me by the throat and shoved me against a wall. Then he leaned down and hissed, "now we discuss that little weapon you had earlier."

I thought quickly about that and finally realized something I really should have thought of earlier: my pistol used an invention that at the time was purely a Qunari concoction. I cursed at myself, but tried to play dumb (again), "Erm. What about it?" I asked, trying to be as convincing as possible.

He growled and said, "It uses the gatlock, a chemical known only to my people. Worse it's a design superior to anything we use. How did one as… primitive as you get a hold of such a device?"

I thought how to answer that for a moment, but couldn't come up with anything that wouldn't be a lie so open even a Qunari could tell. So instead I opted for the truth, albeit a somewhat modified version of it, "Where I come from such weapons are very rare. I don't know of hardly anyone else who uses it." Technically true, but only because where I come from smokeless powder has largely replaced blackpowder.

Sten was slightly mollified but again demanded, "Then why do you have one?"

This time I thought of something that might well appeal to the kossith's mind. "I was sent as an investigator from far away to study the Blight. That's why I've got it. I was given one for self-defense in case darkspawn attacked me."

Sten frowned, obviously willing to accept that another people had motivations similar to his own. Still though, one issue loomed for him. "Are these people of yours trying to sell gatlock to the humans?" he demanded.

Again I replied with slightly less than the truth. "Oh, they wouldn't dream of selling it." Again technically true, but not mentioning exactly why that was utterly impossible.

Sten lowered me back to the ground and said darkly, "I can accept that answer for now, but give me one hint you're lying or going to give them the technology, and I will kill you."

I gulped and Sten stalked away. As I stood there trying to get my heart to quiet down Leliana came up behind me, she'd already gotten the girl back out with no trouble and sent her with Alistair and Darrian back to Redcliffe. She seemed to sense something was wrong because she asked, "William, are you okay?"

I turned and smiled a little, though I think I was still white as a sheet and answered, "Yes, just feeling a tad ill. Come on. Let's go help Sten with the barricade."

As it turned out we were slightly less than useless when it came to that subject. Sten was already piling furniture in front of the door and we finished wedging it in place with pieces of armor and anything heavy we could get a hold of. The job took about ten minutes to complete and when done we moved back to the Great Hall to wait for Alistair and Darrian to come back.

I sat as far away from Sten as I could manage without being obvious and started cleaning the pistol. A few minutes into the process Isolde ran into the room. Slightly behind her came Teagan, Alistair, and Darrian. Teagan started walking over toward, but slowed down when he saw Leliana. Alistair and Darrian caught up with him and moved to stand over us. They waved Morrigan and Sten over to discuss our next move when Isolde finally demanded, "Where's Conner?"

"You mean the abomination?" Alistair answered with a hard edge in his voice. "It's upstairs, and if we're lucky it will stay there."

Isolde looked incredulous, "What do you mean, he's just a boy."

Alistair tried to answer patiently, which considering he's always hated that woman was saying something. "Look Isolde, He's a mage whose fallen to a demon's possession. Conner's an abomination. He has to be destroyed."

Before Isolde could answer Morrigan spoke up in a slurred voice, "And how exactly are we supposed to do that exactly? It was pure luck you managed to dispel that thing's spells the first time. Would you pull it off a second time? Anyway, that's all elementary who do you propose to fight it?" Alistair looked at her puzzle, but then finally seemed to notice the rings around her eyes and the way she was speaking. She nodded slightly, but almost fell over from that. Morrigan sat there, trying to get her thoughts together before continuing, "I'm exhausted. If we had some lyrium it would help, but we don't. There isn't anyone here who could take an abomination right now." With her statement done Morrigan lay down and finished, "Now, I'm getting some sleep. Wake me in a day or two."

Alistair looked down at her and then finally said, "Much as it pains me to admit this Morrigan is right. She's the only one who could possible fight an abomination, and she's not going to be up to it for a while. Now options?"

Everyone was quiet for a moment before I tentatively raised a hand. The group looked at me and I said, "We could send someone into the Fade to fight the demon."

The others looked startled and Leliana said, "What? That sounds like a really bad idea."

Alistair nodded, "Yeah it does. We don't have anyone to send in that could fight a demon, and no lyrium to send them in conscious."

Teagan thought and finally answered, "What about the Circle? It's a week from here on horseback? The magical barriers in the castle should be able to hold for long enough for you to get back. And we might be able to hold them off if she feels up to it." He gestured at Morrigan, "Other than that we really don't stand a chance."

As they continued discussing it I suddenly realized I had just screwed up massively. Finally I looked up from cleaning the pistol and said, "Umm… What if the Tower is overrun with abominations?"

Alistair, Leliana, and Teagan all laughed. Finally Alistair said, "Come on, don't be ridiculous. The Templars wouldn't let something like that happen. Now then, if that's all settled I think it's time to go. We only have a few horses so I think William and I should go. I'm the one the Templars will trust and William sucks at combat. Leliana, Sten, and Darrian stay here to defend the Great Hall in case the demon manages to break back out. If it really comes down to it let the mage downstairs out. He might be able to help drive it away."

Teagan nodded, "Okay. We'll ready the horses. You two get some supplies together and get ready. You can both ride I assume?"

I raised a hand and said, "No."

Alistair groaned, "Somehow I knew you were going to say that. Well come along, it's not that hard."

* * *

As it turned out Alistair was right, assuming you aren't afraid of horses; which I am as it happens. After thirty minutes of almost falling off the horse Alistair declared me competent and said that in twenty minutes we would be leaving.

As soon as he did so I set off straight for the blacksmith's house. Inside Owen was happily working on some cast iron, a sight I was extremely glad to see. It would be necessary for my plans of a future army to oppose the archdemon. He looked up as I closed the door and grinned. Owen put his equipment down and rushed over to thank me. He was just in the middle of declaring how everything he owned was mine for saving his daughter when I waved him down.

"Okay Owen, you're welcome, but that isn't why I'm here. Look, how long do you think it would take you to build this?" I pulled out a piece of paper that had once been part of my state highway map. On it I had used one of the utensils on my knife as a straight-edge, and a piece of string as a compass to draw up a crude design for a cannon, along with it were little notes on things to remember it needed. "It needs to be made from cast-iron."

He looked over it and scratched his chin. "Well, it doesn't look too complicated. There are a couple of things that might take me a while to get right, but I'd say two months to build the first one. After that things will get shorter. What is it?"

I handed the paper over to him. "When it's done I'll show you. Until then I need to talk to Murdoch."

Outside Murdoch was organizing taking down gathering food from the nearby farms which had stopped trading with Redcliff after a couple of people didn't come back. I interrupted him by asking, "Murdoch, do you know what niter is?"

He looked at me before saying, "Yes of course. Why?"

I handed him a paper with some instructions for extracting saltpeter from it and said, "I need you to get it and follow the instructions on that paper. You can read right?" He nodded and I continued, "Excellent. We'll also need sulfur and charcoal."

Murdoch considered what I was asking and finally said, "I can get it for you, but why do you need it?"

I smiled, "oh let's just say for now that it'll come as a rather big surprise for the world. And when I get back I'll show you what I need it for." I didn't add, if I got back.

Finally Alistair called for me to mount the horse and I did so. It moved slowly along after his and I considered running away. In the end though I knew that wouldn't be feasible. By now descriptions of me would almost certainly have gotten back to Loghain and I'd be a wanted criminal. It's hard to disguise yourself when you're several inches taller than the average person, are in comparatively perfect health, and wear glasses. In the end it might actually be safer, or at least faster to die in the Mage's Tower.

As Alistair and I crossed the bridge out of Redcliff my thoughts were filled with questions about exactly what getting ripped apart by an angry abomination actually felt like.


	8. Chapter 8

**To Wyolake: Thank you. While I would love to make more bullets, the explanation for why I can't will be in this chapter. Given a couple of years it might work out, but we have a limited amount of time right now unfortunately.**

**To She Dictator: Thank you, and welcome aboard. I hope you continue to enjoy the story.**

Chapter VIII

The Mages' Circle. The largest and most magnificent building in Fereldan, barring maybe Fort Drakon. And all I could think was how many stairs it must have. I didn't have long to look at it though as Alistair didn't bother to slow down as we crossed the hill down to Lake Calenhad. He'd run the horses almost ragged getting us there in less than a week, and we'd arrived a day early.

At the bottom of the hill was a small dock, with the only boat out to the Tower. In front of it was a templar I never bothered to find out the name of. He held up a hand as we approached and said, "Sorry. The Tower's off-li…" Alistair had clambered down off his horse and proceeded to punch the templar in the stomach. He went down on one knee and Alistair hopped in the boat.

I followed him as the templar knelt there wheezing from the blow. Before he could get his breath back Alistair had started paddling out toward the island on which the Tower lay. A short row later and Alistair climbed off the boat and started walking toward the door. I clumsily followed, nearly falling into the lake twice (which with chainmail isn't a recommended idea.)

By the time I'd made it out of the boat Alistair was opening the door to the Tower. He glanced back once to make sure I was following and went inside. The door was about seven feet high and maybe ten across. I looked up toward the top of the tower so many stories up and groaned. There would be hundreds of stairs to be climbed today. Finally I sighed and followed Alistair into the Tower.

Inside he was talking to Gregoir, the head of the Circle's Templars at the time. It took me a while to get close enough to make out what they were saying. "… absolutely not. The Circle is off limits to everyone right now." Gregoir finished answering a question I hadn't heard.

Alistair responded, "Why not? It's not as if demons have overrun the Tower." He paused as Gregoir's face darkened, then he continued, "Right?"

Gregoir shook his head, "Yes. Abominations and blood mages roam the Tower now; the upper floors are almost certainly swarming with demons too. We're awaiting reinforcements from Denerim and confirmation for the Rite of Annulment. The Circle's lost."

Alistair cursed, "We need mages, is it possible any of them survived?"

Before Gregoir could answer I decided the time for waiting was over, "Yes they are. Quite a few actually. An enchanter has a group of them shielded near the entrance to the library. Then there are the ones hiding upstairs, the ones Uldred has captured and wants to turn into abominations, the First Enchanter, and the Tranquil." Sometimes having morals can be really, really annoying. Especially since the last thing I really wanted to do was enter a building infested with demons with no backup or plan.

Both Alistair and Gregoir looked at me and Gregoir started to say something before Alistair cut him off. "You know, back in Redcliffe I would have said you're crazy to say that, but you were the one who mentioned the Tower being overrun, you were right about Loghain, so I think this time I'll take your word for it." He turned back to Gregoir and said, "Well, if we can bring out this enchanter and the students would you let us go in to find the First Enchanter?"

Gregoir thought about it for a moment and finally nodded. "You have ten minutes to get this enchanter and the students out. If you can then I'll let you go into the rest of the Tower. Just don't complain too much if you get ripped apart." He turned toward the Templars guarding the door and ordered, "Get that door open. Be ready to close it at a moment's notice though."

The Templars quickly unbarred the door and opened it. Alistair went through and I followed him, feeling kind of sick the whole time. The hall past the door was a mess. There had obviously been fighting at some point, the walls were blacked, there were burned corpses lining the floor, in a couple of places massive bloated bodies lay where they had fallen. These were my first look at abominations and it made we want to vomit. Thankfully the hallway was fairly short. We reached a closed door and Alistair slowly slid it open and looked out. From inside came a horrible screeching sound, and I glanced out and saw a yellow and red creature trying to enter the room, through a doorway on the far side. It was strangely small in all three dimensions, but it had one or two that shouldn't exist. Just looking at the thing was horribly uncomfortable, but the feeling was the worst part.

It filled the soul with a burning desire to cause pain, to maim and kill without any feeling but hatred. Even as the thought to attack something became overwhelming though it hit a blue barrier and began to fade. The feeling became worse for a moment, then suddenly was gone. I looked down and realized I had drawn my sword and had been about to kill Alistair. Looking over he had his sword out too and had the same look of confusion in his face. Finally he blinked and said, "Wow. I've heard the stories of what Rage demons could do to you, but none of that even started to explain it."

I nodded, it's impossible to get that feeling across but for a moment I had known what it was like to be a dalek, nothing but rage and hate at the world and everything in it. We both put the swords away and started into the room.

As we did so the two oldest students whirled with their staves up to see that it was. They lowered them slightly when they saw it was only two lightly armed people rather than the army of Templars coming to cleanse the Circle, or abominations who had somehow gotten behind them.

An older woman came out from behind us and narrowed her eyes, "So you aren't Templars come to kill us then?"

Alistair shook his head, "No, they're still waiting for the Rite of Annulment, but it will be here soon. Send the students back down the corridor, the Templars have agreed to keep the door open for another…" he looked at me and I glanced down at my watch to check, before I answered, "Four minutes."

The old woman turned to the students and ordered, "Petra, get them down the hall. Run." They didn't need any more motivation. All the students sprinted through the door Alistair and I had just come through. Soon the sounds of them running faded and the old woman turned back and said, "Now, what?"

Alistair thought for a moment, "Well, if he's correct," he pointed at me for a moment, "then the First Enchanter is alive somewhere up there, and we need to bring him down."

Wynne nodded, "Then let's get started." She walked up to the barrier that had dispelled the demon and brought it down with a quick word.

Alistair led the way through, Wynne went second and I sort of trailed along behind. A short corridor later led to the entrance to the main library of the Circle. Inside an abomination was ripping through the shelves. Alistair closed his eyes, then charged out at it. The creature turned toward him, only for Alistair's sword to hit it in the side. The creature started moving to cast a spell when he smashed his shield into the things legs and finally smashed the shield down on the creatures head as it stumbled. There was a sickening crunch and the creature died.

Alistair picked himself up from the creature's remains and scowled as he saw the amount of blood and bits of brain that had attached themselves to the shield. He wiped it off a little on one of the ruined books and motioned for us to follow him. Wynne went out first while I sort of peeked into the library to see if anything else was waiting. There didn't appear to be anything, so I went out. Needless to say, I was wrong. The bookcase next to Alistair exploded and from the other side came another Rage demon. Again the feeling of pure fury emerged from my mind. I drew my saber as four abominations followed it and with a roar of anger my self-control vanished.

I launched myself against the abominations, slashing and stabbing with no regard to safety. Their fists slammed against me and I honestly did not care. One fell as with strength I really shouldn't have my saber took its head off. A second fell as my saber slammed into its stomach and then kept going. And as the second fell the feeling suddenly was gone. The Rage demon was standing frozen between two equally frozen abominations where Wynne's spell had hit them. As the Rage demon was banished back to the Fade Alistair smashed the final two abominations with his shield.

Finally the feeling was completely gone and I started to notice the injuries. The first thing to fail was my right leg, now shattered; at almost the same time my sword fell as the arm holding it was broken. For a moment I lay there, the pain not really registering then finally it hit and I started screaming. I started to pass out when the pain in my leg faded, and then a couple of moments later so did the pain in my arm. I blinked and sat up to find Wynne giving the same treatment to Alistair who had gotten a couple of ribs broken.

Finally she stood up and swayed a little before pulling a flask out of her robes and taking a swig of it. I stood completely, slowly transferring weight onto my leg before realizing it was completely healed. I breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Thank you."

She smiled and said, "You're welcome. But how about if next time you two let me deal with the demon before going into heroics."

Alistair snorted and answered, "That sounds nice. Though, I'm not quite sure how much use he'll be in a fight without that berserker rage."

I shrugged and answered, "Morituri Nolumus Mori." He raised an eyebrow and I translated, "We who are about to die don't want to."

Alistair laughed a little and said, "Well that's true enough. Don't have a choice though." With that he started moving toward the library's exit, obvious now that most of the shelves were knocked down, on fire, or both."

He started to open the door and I caught his arm and shook my head. He raised an eyebrow and started to ask what I was doing when I motioned for quiet. I slowly edged the door open and saw another Rage demon inside with a group of abominations. Alistair and Wynne glanced in too and then slowly shut the door.

Alistair swore and asked, "Is there any place in this Tower that doesn't have demons?"

I snorted a little, "Not really. Now we need a plan. We can't just rush in, almost die, and then have Wynne heal us every time we meet a demon. We need a plan."

Wynne and Alistair thought for a few moments before Alistair asked, "What about that weapon you used on the Revenant?"

I shook my head. "I only have a few shots left, and I don't know the formula for pistol powder. Cannon powder I can instruct on how to make, but pistols use a different amount of material. I'm not sure how to make the bullets, and the country doesn't have the materials I'd need for a percussion cap." Wynne and Alistair looked at me blankly so I simplified it, "Imagine trying to make a crossbow, but you don't have any metal."

"Okay, that makes sense," said Alistair. "But what else do we have?"

We went back to brainstorming then Wynne said, "The bookshelves."

Alistair and I looked at her without understanding so she explained, "We can tip the bookshelves over onto them. We'll need to get on the other side though, I can't climb but you two might be able to."

I nodded slowly, "Yeah. That could work. Give us your staff; we might need a lever to get things going. Wynne quickly passed her staff over to Alistair and I started to take off my chainmail. It took a few minutes to completely get out of it and take my boots off, leaving only the cotton padding. I grabbed the staff, cracked the door open enough to slip through. With agility built from climbing around backstage in theater productions (that is to say: none at all) I made it to the top and realized a slight problem in our plan. Those bookshelves were TALL. Judging simply from science classes I estimated at least one broken leg if I jumped.

Looking around quickly I spotted the solution and slid over to the column next to the bookshelves. As quick as possible I slid down the pillar, trying to keep speed down. Even so I felt the impact, which thankfully was really quiet. A moment later Alistair landed with a little more sound. We froze but the demon was too busy ripping apart a corpse nearby to notice. It helps that demons have horribly limited senses in our world, for them it's like suddenly losing your sight and hearing at the same time. It's why they need a body to inhabit in most circumstances.

The two of us started pushing on the bookshelf and after a few moments the bookshelf started to lift off the ground. I braced the staff underneath and started pushing down on it. The bookshelf let out a low grown and finally the demon and abominations noticed it. They rushed over and as the demon started to blast through the shelf the books started falling off and the shelf tipped over. There was a crash and the creatures were crushed underneath the falling shelf.

Wynne poked her head inside the door, obviously expecting to see both of us killed in a horrible manner. She smiled when the two of us walked out from behind the bookshelves. Alistair drove his sword into the Abominations' head to make sure each had been killed, while the demon had been banished to the Fade.

I handed back Wynne's staff, which had cracked down the center. She inspected it before tossing the stick away. A broken mage's staff is more dangerous to the user than a cast iron cannon is to the team working it. Alistair looked up the stairs and said, "If the rest of the Tower is like this it shouldn't be any trouble at all."

I raised an eyebrow and asked, "You mean staying alive through dumb luck, trickery, and suicidal tendencies? Yeah, what can possibly go wrong?"

He didn't even bother answering. Instead we put our armor back on and then headed up the second level of the Circle.

It was a mess. The storeroom had been ransacked and the Tranquil guarding it had been torn apart. Wynne said a quick prayer for the Tranquil and Alistair started moving out when I went into the storeroom. The other two followed me in, and finally Alistair asked, "What are you looking for?"

I stopped looking through a crate for a moment and started trying to remember what it was. Finally I said, "Umm… I don't remember. It fights Blood Magic or something… I seem to remember that a dead Enchanter up on the third floor had it, but we need to make sure."

Wynne blinked and asked, "What does that even mean?"

Alistair took a moment before saying, "He's talking about the Litany of Adralla. As for the rest, don't pay too close attention to it. He knows... things."

Wynne looked nonplussed at that explanation, but joined the search. Twenty minutes passed of fruitless looking before we decided either my other explanation was right, or that the Litany had been destroyed and we were doomed. Either or really.

We left the stockroom and went left, until running into a sealed door. Alistair tried to push it open, but failed. After a moment of thinking Wynne went up to it, muttered something and shook her head. "It's been sealed. Someone was being chased this way and locked it down. Given a month or two I might be able to open it, but we're going to have to go around."

With that she turned and started walking toward the far side. Alistair followed, and after a groan so did I. The only other exit led into a destroyed library. Inside were three blood mages, two of whom spotted us and attacked immediately.

One pulled out a knife and started to slice his arm open to unleash blood magic, but Wynne shot an earthen fist at his knife hand. The stone hit him in the lower arm, and from the sickening angle afterward obviously broke it. The other raised his staff to shoot a spell at us, but Alistair let a Templar ability loose, stunning the mage where he stood. By the time the man had recovered Alistair had slammed his shield into his face. On final move brought his sword into the mage's throat. He gurgled for a moment, then died.

The second mage finally managed to draw blood, and started casing but Wynne launched a bolt of energy that caught him in the face. The now headless body fell to the ground and they both turned to the third blood mage. Sensing what was coming she threw her staff down and held up her hands in surrender.

She fairly obviously wasn't scared exactly, just realized that she was completely outmatched by those two. With a stutter clearly designed to convey fright she said, "P-p-ple-ease don't k-k-ill me."

Alistair raised his sword and said, "drop the act, and why not?"

She scowled and lowered her hands, "I didn't want this to happen. Uldred said that if we supported Loghain he would help us throw off the Chantry. I didn't know all this death was going to happen because of it."

Wynne in probably the only moment of genuine anger in the short time she was with us demanded, "Well what did you expect to happen foolish girl? Blood magic, I didn't want to believe it but you learned it, but it's obvious he," she jerked her head at me for that, "was right. You've gone too far. Things will get worse for mages now. I hope you're proud of yourself."

The woman looked to be on the verge of tears, again faking it, and answered, "I thought someone had to take the first step. Uldred went mad and now we're scattered for the demons to play with. Please, let me live. I don't know what I can do to make up for it, but I will, or try to at least."

Alistair thought a moment before turning to us and asking, "What do we do? I know she's a blood mage, but she does seem at least a little remorseful for her role in this."

Wynne shrugged but didn't say anything. Instead he looked at me and asked, "Well Mr. Expert-on-things-you-shouldn't-know-about, what do we do?"

I thought and finally said, "Why don't we take her with us? We're going to need more help to get through the Tower. Someone with power over the demons might be a help."

Alistair raised an eyebrow and asked, "Do you really think that's a good idea? The Templars will want to execute her you know."

I nodded, "Conscript her then. We need more Wardens, and a mage looking for a way out of death might well be a good candidate."

He thought it over a bit more before agreeing. With our little discussion over Alistair turned back to her and said, "We've agreed to spare you…" She started to thank us before he continued, "In return you come with us, and eventually get inducted into the Grey Wardens. Agreed?"

She scowled but nodded, "If it means getting to live, and maybe fixing my part in this I'll do it."

He smiled and answered, "Good. Now, what's your name?"

She blinked and realized she hadn't actually told us, "Solona. Solona Amell."

Alistair nodded and said, "Welcome to the team Solona, on a probationary basis of course."

The exit of the library led out into a long curving hallway. Lining it were a series of shut doors, and we proceeded to sneak by them as quietly as possible. A little way down the hall however and one of the doors opened, revealing three walking corpses. Alistair cursed as they came out, and bashed one in the face. As it stumbled backwards Solona first showed her worth by blasting the other two with fire. The rotting flesh lit up instantly, and the two creatures began to disintegrate under her nonstop blast. Alistair quickly and methodically took the legs, arms, and finally head off the last one.

He nodded appreciation to Solona, then poked his head into the room. It was a series of chambers for the mages, and just inside was a cabinet, that closed by itself. Alistair went over, and pulled the door open, spilling the mage inside onto the ground. He looked up at us and cowered on the floor, "Please, don't kill me. I'll do anything."

Alistair looked down and said, "We're not going to hurt you. Now get up."

The mage looked up and finally stood on fairly shaky legs. "You're not? Oh good. I got in there because I didn't want the abominations to get me."

Alistair nodded, "Understandable, but shouldn't you be fighting?"

The mage shook his head vigorously, "Oh no, I was terrified enough during my Harrowing. No way would I fight demons if it could be avoided."

Alistair looked back at me to ask who it was, but I couldn't remember. Finally he said, "Well congratulations. You've just been drafted. You get to fight abominations. If you won't do it, then she" he pointed at Solona, who looked rather bored, "will convince you. Now come along."

The mage groaned and muttered some curses under his breath, but didn't argue anymore. Finally he said, "Okay I'll do it. The names Alim by the way. Alim Surana, put that on my grave marker will you?"

Alistair snorted and turned to leave. Alim fell in line beside me and asked, "You'll don't usually do things this dangerous right?"

I shrugged and said, "Usually more so. We're planning to kill a god right now."

He gulped but didn't complain. We left the quarters, and continued down the hall, as usual the very next room had blood mages in it. They were having an argument that was interrupted by the appearance of another Abomination. As we watched from the doorway the blood mages fought the creature, and after a long fight managed to kill it. They turned to leave, and finally noticed our heads looking at them. There was silence for a moment, then as if in slow motion raised their still bleeding arms to start casting spells. Alistair and Solona started attacks of their own, but before anything else could happen there was a flash of magical energy around the blood mages and they both died.

Alistair blinked and asked, "What just happened?"

Solona narrowed her eyes and said, "That was a mana clash spell. It takes a mage's power and uses it to attack them, but I can't do it." She looked back at Wynne who shook her head.

Finally we looked at Alim who shrugged, "I learned it a while back. I didn't think it would ever need to be used though…"

Alistair looked back at the corpses and said, "I really hope you have a couple more spells like."

The rest of the floor passed relatively peacefully. We skirted around the Chantry and a couple more rooms filled with demons before finding ourselves outside the First Enchanter's room. With a wicked look Solona ducked inside while the rest of us sat against the wall to rest a while. She came back out with a couple of stolen books, which Wynne let slide with no more than a dirty look. After a ten minute break Alistair led us up the stairs to the third floor.


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: Before anyone asks why I'm skipping over a certain something, please read the note I have at the bottom of the chapter.**

**To Wyolake: You're right, I am going for a more hardened Alistair. I'm aiming for something between his normal game disposition and the Darkspawn Chronicles one.**

**To Rhominus: Thanks.**

Chapter IX

Alistair and Solona emerged from the stairs ready for whatever was waiting. Instead they looked rather silly, as the room was completely empty. The other three of us emerged, one by one behind them. Wynne came first, then Alim, then me. Alim and I had had a little argument on the way up about who got the privilege of arriving first, he lost.

There were two exits from the room one was a closed door, the other was blocked up by tipped over bookshelves. Alistair looked back at me and asked, "Which way?"

I thought over it, trying to remember before finally remembering a couple of details. Pointing toward the bookshelves I said, "That way. The other way has… um… something dangerous."

Alistair shook his head, "That's a bit vague, but I'll listen Now, who can clear bookshelves?"

Solona rolled her eyes, pointed a hand toward them and shot flames toward them. As she did so she started cackling and shouted, "BURN." We all scooted away from her and she stopped laughing for a moment to announce, "I've wanted to burn these things for years. Do you people have any idea how much time I've spent trying to sort through them."

No one bothered to give her an answer.

She kept at it for a minute before stopping. Alistair waited for the fire to die down before heading over and hitting it a couple of times hit the shelves with the flat of his sword to knock them apart enough for us to get through. He finished and motioned for us to follow him. Wynne went right away and Solona followed her after setting the stolen books down. Alim motioned that it was my turn to go first and after a short argument Solona looked back in and hissed for us to hurry along.

Through the doorway was a curved hallway, much like the ones lower in the Tower, but thinner to compensate for the decreased diameter. Along the left hand side were a series of rooms, all of which were closed. Alistair moved to look into one but I caught his shoulder and whispered, "Desire Demons and Abominations."

His eyes widened and he slowly backed away. With a quick motion he gathered us up and ordered that no one was to open a door without permission.

We moved down the hall as quietly as possible, trying to avoid whatever creatures might be lurking inside them. Finally we came to the sole door leading to the inner room of the third floor, the room with the only staircase. Alistair moved to open the door, but pulled back and asked me what was waiting inside.

I took a while to think before finally saying, "An abomination and some shades I think, maybe a demon or two. I'm really not sure. It's been a long time and I can't remember."

He frowned and asked, a long time since… Actually, let's put that conversation off again. Now, we need a plan. How can we kill an abomination and whatever is helping it." No one offered any suggestions so he ordered, "Wynne, hang back. We're going to need you at full strength to heal whatever horrible injuries we get from this. Alim, Solona: I'm going to need you two to deal with the abomination as fast as possible. That leaves William and me, mostly me, to deal with the shades. Now, ready and go."

Alistair pushed the door in and charged to deal with the shades, which there was only one of as it turned out. In addition though were the five reanimated corpses waiting for us. Solona went in quickly after him, and blasted a fire spell into the middle of a small group of the undead. The rotting flesh caught fire in the magical blaze and they went up like tinder. Alim went in next, lashing at the abomination with a Mana Clash. The creature was blasted backwards as the magical energies of its host were suddenly channeled against it directly. As the creature started to get up Solona swung her staff toward it and blasted a beam of flames at it. Alim moved to join her and soon added his own lightning blasts to the stream of magic pouring at the creature.

Meanwhile I moved in, a bit slower than the others had done and brought my saber into the Shade's back as it moved to take Alistair's head off. The blow was almost useless, but it bought him time to slam his shield into the thing's face before stabbing his sword into the thing's right eye. It screeched a horrible sound, and disintegrated as the magic keeping it together vanished.

No sooner was it gone though than the two remaining two undead creatures were on us. Alistair quickly decapitated his opponent, and with the head gone he took the rest of the limbs off as well in the space of ten seconds. My battle was a little longer, until he was done with his actually. Rather than attacking I sort of stumbled backward while managing to block the undead's clumsy strikes. Alistair interrupted its last strike by cutting off the creature's right arm. Four seconds later and our fight was over.

We turned back to where Solona and Alim were still blasting away into the Abomination and Alistair told them, "I think its dead. You can stop now." The two of them slowly pulled back on the magic they had been putting out and looked down at the creature, now little more than a pile of burning clothes and skin.

Solona breathed a sigh of relief and said, "After seeing those in action before I wanted to be sure it was dead."

Alim nodded and Alistair called for Wynne to come into the room. She did so and looked over us quickly to make sure there weren't any injuries she needed to look at. Solona had a cut on her upper arm we put a poultice on, and I had a dislocated finger from one badly blocked blow. Alistair popped it back into place and I made a note to tie it up to heal. Other than that our group had come through unscathed.

Alistair ordered a short break to recover and after a few minutes he led the way to the fourth floor.

The fourth floor landing was clear like the third, but this one had Taint across the walls and statues. The Taint extended through the hall, which as with the others was lined with doors down the left hand side. Alim glanced into one and started to go in, but as I had done with Alistair before I caught his shoulder and stopped him. He turned back and said, "There's a Templar in there with a demon. We can't just leave him."

I glanced in and it was one of the specific rooms I remembered, and explained quietly, "That Templar is already dead. If we go in there now the demon and Templar will both attack us. We might have managed to kill an Abomination with little overall trouble, but imagine fighting someone who won't even feel what you do, but maintains the skills he had in life. Now imagine fighting him with the second most powerful kind of demon."

Alim gulped and backed away. We hurried along, not even looking in the other rooms before going into the sole room leading to the other side. This room was almost empty save for a single corpse and standing over it was another demon. Alistair moved toward it and prepared to attack when it started speaking, "Oh visitors. I would entertain you… but too much trouble. How about instead I release you from the violence of this world."

It raised a hand and my four companions sank to the floor and started to pass out. I blinked, unaffected and then stepped up and with a quick move brought the sword down onto the demon's throat. The corrupted flesh was torn open by the blade and the creature fell, bleeding out and I stabbed the saber into its chest to finish it. The creature gargled and thrashed for a moment and then lay still. As it stopped moving the others pushed themselves up off the ground and Alistair said, "That was weird. I thought I was back with the Wardens, but there was something wrong with it."

He looked over at other three and they just shook their heads and Solona said, "I don't want to talk about it." Wynne and Alim agreed and the matter was dropped. As they stood there thinking about what had happened I picked up a bloodstained scroll, and looked over it. The writing was archaic, but it was the Litany of Adralla.

We looked over it and Wynne carefully stored it in a bag before Alistair led us on to the other side of the fourth floor. On the other side lay another hallway. The five of us moved in, but stopped when there was a growling up ahead. Alistair looked back at me with a questioning look. After a little thought I whispered, "Drakes. Fairly old male dragons; they can't fly, but can breathe fire and have a nasty bite."

Alistair groaned and muttered, "What's next a High Dragon?"

I shrugged and said, "A little later than that, but not exactly far away either."

He scowled and said, "You didn't have to tell me that, you really didn't."

We rounded the corner quietly and came face to face with a fully grown drake. It roared and shot a jet of fire toward Solona. She laughed like a maniac and knocked the flames away with her own power. With another quick move she shot her own fire toward the drake. It roared, but was completely unaffected. Wynne though hit it directly with an ice spell. The creature sank to one "knee" and Alistair brought his sword into the beast's throat. The sword hit hard, but didn't penetrate. Alim though hit it with a lightning blast and Wynne again summoned ice against it. The creature roared one last time, before collapsing forward. With one last move Alistair slammed his sword point downward into the drake's head. The creature died as the sword penetrated its brain.

We started to move on before Alistair got down and looked thoughtfully at the drake. Solona asked, "What is it?"

He looked up at me and asked me, "Do you have that knife on you?"

I unclipped my Army Knife from my belt and tossed it to him. He nodded in thanks and quickly started skinning the creature. It took him a little over four minutes to get most of the drake's skin off. He set it on a nearby table and said, "We'll get it on the way down. If we can turn this into armor it will be better protection than some of the armor we have."

He finally moved into the next room. Inside were six dragonlings that charged at us almost immediately. Alistair's sword took one's head off immediately, and he stabbed a second moments later. Alim and Wynne used magic to kill the other four before I could even draw my sword.

I looked at Alistair and offered the knife again, but he shook his head. "No, they haven't developed enough to be useful."

I shrugged and put the knife away before we moved on. Through the next door stood another abomination, it looked at us in something almost approaching shock. We dove out of the doorway as a spell shot after us. Solona shot a sheet of flame into the corridor. Alim shot a lance of electricity into the hall before the creature and two others burst out of another room to charge at us. As the three started moving Alim launched a Mana Clash against them that stumbled one. Moments later he followed with a Walking Bomb spell.

Solona desperately ripped her poultice off and called on her blood to begin boiling the creature's blood. There was a horrible scream as whatever was left of the mages inside the abominations began to suffer but she didn't let up. Finally all three fell and Solona collapsed from the exertion. She slowly pushed herself back up, gasping. The four of us stared at her, but she wasn't feeling up to saying anything. After a few moments she managed to get out, "I've never done that before. It feels horrible, but at least we won."

Alistair nodded and said, "Right, let's not do that again."

Wynne clearly didn't approve, but didn't say anything again. Instead she cast a small spell to restore some of Solona's health, but the only real cure would be a couple of days rest and food. We continued into an empty room. The five of us stopped there and waited for a few moments, almost expecting something horrible to come out of nowhere at any moment. Finally though, we came to the conclusion that there really was nothing there and kept going.

The next room held the first living (and relatively sane) person since the second floor was encased in a magical field. He was lying on the floor and as we walked in he said, "This trick again? It won't work. I will stay strong."

Wynne was the first to speak, "Cullen, is that you?" He refused to answer and she continued, "He's exhausted. And I've never seen anything like this cage." She went down on one knee and said soothingly, "It's okay. Help is here."

He snarled at her, "Filthy blood mages. You won't get in my head, I will not give in."

Finally Wynne stood back up and said, "It's no use. He won't accept who we are, let's head upstairs. If the First Enchanter is still in the Tower, that's where he'll be."

Alistair said, "Agreed. Let's go."

As he started up the stairs I pulled my pistol out and loaded it. Our new companions looked at the weapon with curiosity and Alistair looked a little scared of it.

After a few moments I finished loading the weapon and followed him up the stairs.

In the Harrowing chamber four mages were performing a horrible ritual on another. Nearby were a dozen Enchanters, kept in place with blood magic. As the four active mages threw their victim down to put a demon into him Alistair shouted, "Okay, I don't know how you're doing this, but stop it."

One of the mage's turned to look at us with something approaching disdainful curiosity. "Oh look, a group of heroes to save the Circle. Well exactly…" As he spoke I lifted my pistol and fired a shot. A small hole appeared in his forehead, and brains blasted out the back of his skull as the bullet went through. The mage sank to his knees, and I fired three more shots in quick succession. The other three mages involved in the ritual collapsed as well as bullets struck them. The final mage died and the blood magic holding the other mage's in place was broken. The mage they had been working on thrashed a few times then lay still.

I quickly checked his pulse, there wasn't one. I made the sign of the cross and turned to see the mages' getting up. The oldest said, "Thank you, but who are you?"

Alistair stepped up and announced, "My name is Alistair Theiren, I'm a Grey Warden and rightful King of Fereldan. We're here to discuss certain treaties between the Circle and the Wardens in the event of a Blight."

The First Enchanter smiled a little and said, "You have an excellent sense of timing at least. Now, let's get out of here, I'm sure Gregoir is eagerly awaiting news of my demise."

The First Enchanter led the way out of the Chamber and we started down the Tower again. On the way down we picked up Cullen, who had to be dragged out by Alistair and myself; the hide of the drake we'd killed; and Solona's stolen books. If Irving noted the books he didn't say anything.

It took us almost an hour to get back to the bottom of the Tower. Gregoir, his Templars, and Wynne's students were waiting for us. As we entered the room Gregoir smiled a little and said, "Well, I can see you are more competent than I'd assumed. Now, I guess the Circle is confirmed clean?"

Alistair shifted and said, "Well, not exactly. We didn't have enough people to clear out the Tower, but we have everyone who wasn't possessed or a blood mage. You can still enact the Rite on the rest of the Tower. All we ask is that you leave anyone in this room intact."

Gregoir nodded and said, "I think I can do that. Our reinforcements should be arriving tomorrow, give us a week and the Circle will be ready for repair. You realize though that if we do so, we won't be able to help you against the Blight."

Alistair nodded and said, "We can live with that I think. The Mages will help us though right?" He directed that part of the question to Irving who said, "I think we can arrange that."

Finally Irving said, "Though, there is one other issue." Gregoir looked at him curiously and Irving pointed to Solona. "Her specifically, she was in the meeting where Uldred revealed his power. She was one of those who stood with him, and she's a blood mage."

Gregoir and his Templars brought out their swords. Alistair, Alim, and Solona raised their weapons and Alistair said, "You're not taking her. We promised to spare her if she helped us, and I don't intend to violate that trust."

Gregoir refused to lower his blade and said, "I cannot allow her to leave this room."

Finally after the two groups stood facing each other Alistair said, "I think we can come up with a compromise. I conscript her into the Wardens."

Solona breathed a sigh of relief and she chuckled at the shock on Gregoir's face, "Ha, can't touch me now Templar."

He scowled and said, "Well if that's everything please go. I've got work to do."

With our standoff over Alistair turned to Irving and said, "One more thing. There's a possessed child in Redcliffe. We need the Circle to help us to free him."

Irving thought and said, "Well you did save us, so I think we might spare a few mages and lyrium to help. Give us a few hours and we'll head off with you. Just, please keep her," he nodded to Solona, "away from me."

A few hours later a group of ten set off from the Tower to make the journey back to Redcliffe.

**Secondary Note: Yes, I skipped the Fade I know. The reason I'm doing so is because the story is being written as a memoir, and no one involved wants any reference to it. That will be included in the next "chapter" which is going to cover what actually happened after the group entered the room with the Sloth demon.**


	10. Interlude 1

**Author's Note: After three school projects and then some minor computer difficulties delayed this about a week here is the first part of what really happened in the Fade. Just a quick note on the subject of the interludes themselves as well. This and the next one will likely be the largest. The later ones will mainly be things like character interaction (to show why certain people get a long later when in the main story itself the in-universe author hasn't mentioned it) and later certain companion quests, some of which will involve the main character, but some won't. Anyway, I hope you enjoy.**

Interlude # 1

(Or, what really happened with the sloth demon)

The small group of "heroes" stormed into the room, two of them held weapons ready, one held back to heal any damage the others might take. The final two sort of trailed in without really wanting too.

The Sloth Demon looked on them and prepared its spell. It had drained the life of a dozen souls over the course of the battle in the Tower. These five would just add to its power.

As all the others had one approached the demon to strike it down and it spoke to him, "Visitors… I like visitors, but they are always such a pain."

Alistair raised his sword and said, "Well then, I suppose I should put you out of your misery shouldn't I?"

He prepared to drive the sword into the demon when he found himself locked in place. The Sloth demon spoke again, the voice a horrible sound that made fingernails on a chalkboard seem like a soothing song. Then it released its power and cast the spell over the five. Each tried to fight it in turn. The old woman went first, then the templar who had tried to kill it, the two mages started to sink next. The final one, a being who didn't feel right took longer. He took one difficult step after another closer to the demon, drawing his sword as he did so.

It didn't matter in the end; the person was unable to fight the spell off for long. As he sank to the ground the sloth demon finally settled on what was wrong, this person had no connection the Fade whatsoever, not even the limited connection of the dwarves. For a moment the demon considered killing him just in case, but dismissed it. After all if the power of such a creature could be harnessed the demon might well gain more power than any other demon had ever wielded.

The eldritch creature sank back into the Fade to feed and watch his new victims live in their little worlds.

* * *

Alim opened his eyes groggily and saw face looming over him. It was Jowan, his best friend. No, a memory almost half-remembered came back to him, not his best friend; Jowan was a blood mage who had betrayed his trust and nearly gotten him killed in a scheme right after the Harrowing.

Instinctively Alim did what he had imagined doing for eight months now; he punched Jowan in the face. The other man reeled back and said, "Alim what are you…"

He was cut off as Alim slammed his staff into Jowan's stomach. Jowan went down on his knees and Alim kicked him to the ground, before pointing his staff at Jowan's face. "Give me a reason, I dare you."

His former friend looked up confused and asked, "Why are you doing this? We're friends."

Alim snarled back, "You tried to kill me. You betrayed the girl you loved and left me to die with the Templars. If Irving hadn't intervened I would have died. Now I get to return the favor you bastard."

Almost immediately there was a change in Jowan's face and he said, "Oh. Remembered that did you? Well no matter, this would have been so much easier if you had just accepted this." The man stood and waved a hand and a jet of flames shot out of it.

Alim waved his staff and an energy shield appeared around him, then countered with a bolt of lightning. Jowan responded by bringing up his own shield, but Alim's spell had been a diversion. Even as Jowan blocked the lightning Alim's mana clash hit him square on. Moments later Jowan screamed and the form disintegrated, leaving only a low-level demon in its place. With one final spell Alim destroyed it.

With the demon gone Alim finally started to look around. It seemed to be the Tower, but there was something off about it. He concentrated on what it was before finally noticing the sky. There was no roof on this Tower; instead there was only a sickly green sky and a massive floating city in the distance.

With a shock he realized that this was the Fade, he remembered it from the Harrowing, and he remembered the demon that had very nearly destroyed him. Alim shuddered at the memory, but the rest of it started to return as well and he realized something worse, the others had been sent here too. It had only been his hatred for the figure the demon had chosen that let him break free; what if they had nothing to call them back from.

No soon than he had the thought then the nearby pedestal attracted his attention. It had generated a glowing circle of light, that he was almost certain (in the Fade nothing was ever truly certain) hadn't been there before. Curious at the nature of it Alim stepped up and placed his hand on it. A jolt of pain went through him but a map of sorts appeared. The map formed a tree-like shape (or as close as he had ever seen to a tree having almost never left the Tower), with eleven points on it. He assumed these were places much like the one he was on. With trepidation Alim touched one of the lights and the world went black for a few seconds.

The horrid light returned and the island had completely changed. The pedestal was now dark, but again there was a person there. The other man looked at him a little while before saying sadly, "So, someone else got out of the illusion too?"

Alim tried to place the man's face, but gave up after a few seconds. Instead he answered, "Yes. Who are you?"

The man laughed darkly and said, "Niall. I was a Senior Enchanter, but something tells me that doesn't matter out of this place anymore. I tried to save the Circle you know." Alim tried to interrupt to ask how he could get out, but Niall kept going, "My mother always said I was going to be great. Some hero I turned out to be," Niall broke down and started sobbing.

Alim tried to think of something comforting, but couldn't really think of anything. He was ready to move on to see what he could find when Niall pulled himself together and managed to choke out, "If you want to find the demon you'll have to defeat the defenders of the other islands, but it's not possible. Every time you make progress there is an obstacle: a door with no key, an entrance out of even the Fade, a river of flames, a passage no bigger than a mouse. Nothing can get through."

Alim raised an eyebrow and said, "I think I could." With a slight exertion of his will he shrank. In a mere moment he was a mouse. With a quick thought he returned to his human form and asked, "Still think I can't do it?"

Niall sat on his bench for a moment dumbstruck but finally said, "That, that was amazing. Where did you learn to do that?"

Alim shrugged and answered, "Oh, I learned from a Pride Demon the last time I was here. It isn't that hard once you know you can do it. Now, where are these guardians?"

Niall pointed to a door to their right and said, "The first one is through there. But you can't get through, it's not… something… enough to open."

Alim nodded and went to inspect the door. The first thing he noticed was how right Niall's statement was. Something about the door was inherently wrong, much like the demons and the sky. It wasn't something he could pin down but the door simply should not be. Finally he shook off the feeling and tried to actually touch the door.

Rather than impacting on it his hand simply never connected. He stepped right up to where the door should be and reached out again, there was no connection. His hand hadn't passed through but, there was just no contact. Finally he drew back and ran back through his only previous time in the Fade. He had learned a lot then, more than any of the others could have guessed and finally he settled on a means of getting through.

With a slight push of his mind Alim's form shifted again, this time fading into a more spiritual form until he settled into the same form that the Spirit of Valor he'd met in the Fade before. With a slight push the door opened and Alim found himself transported into a completely different looking area. He dropped the form as he a demon launched itself at him. There was a blast of energy where his head had been as Alim dove forward. He swept his staff up and turned the demon's mana against her. The demon screamed horribly and Alim sealed her up in a crushing prison.

The demon hung there for a moment before the prison collapsed and she launched a massive blast of power where Alim had been, but those precious seconds she had been distracted had let him slip away. He dropped the mouse form as she started to turn and with another burst of his will his form shifted again. This time he took on the most terrifying image he'd ever seen, the Pride Demon that had almost killed him during his Harrowing.

The Demon started to cast another spell but Alim caught her in one arm and then smashed her down on the ground before tearing the demon in half. As the demon died her island died with her, Alim found himself back in front of Niall who looked at him in amazement. Alim smiled and asked, "So, still think I can't get out?"

Niall shook his head and answered, "No. If anyone can, it will be you. Now go, the pedestal is active and the island is collapsing. They're manifestations of the demon's will and that's why they block entry into the demon that trapped us here, if you can kill the other four and your companions you might be able to make it."

Alim started moving toward the pedestal, but stopped and asked, "What about you? Are you coming?"

Niall shook his head, "No. I've been here too long. I'm dead in the real world after all this time. Once you leave this place will disappear and everyone here will be released."

Alim nodded and said, "You will be remembered by the Circle Niall." With that he turned to the pedestal and activated it. Without really knowing why he reached out to a specific island, there was a slight flash and the light faded to a room that might have been part of the Tower.

The room was lined with bookshelves and had a single door away from the pedestal. Closer to the pedestal was a mouse hole, but Alim decided to try the door before bothering with shape-changing again.

He opened the door and peaked outside. There was a hall similar to that of the Tower. Alim stepped out into the Hall, and passed by the first door without looking inside. The second door however he opened; it was the most likely to connect him to the third, which was surrounded by flames. Inside was a Chantry virtually identical to the one in the Tower. To the left was a door leading onwards. He crept up to it and peaked through to see two Templars on fire inside.

After a moment's preparation Alim swung the door open and shot a lightning bolt into the first Templar. The man screamed as electricity blasted into him and he fell. The other one though rushed Alim with his sword, Alim blocked with his staff, before shooting a wall of lightning into the man's face. He fell and Alim shot another blast of magic into the first Templar to make sure the fight was over.

Finally Alim looked around and started up the stairs. He was barely off the top when two flaming Mabari warhounds charged at him. With a quick move Alim blasted lighting into the first one, but as he swung to face the second it leapt and snapped its jaws shut on his forearm.

The bones snapped under the beast's bite as Alim shot a bolt of magic into its chest with his free hand. The bite slackened and Alim pried the jaws open to free his arm. He pushed the dog off of him and fell back against a wall to look at the arm. It was beyond saving save for magic, which he didn't know. Healing had never been his specialty, nor did he have the faintest idea where to even start.

Instead he pulled out one of the poultices the others had given him and gingerly wrapped it around the wound before tearing off part of his robes for a sling. He considered the staff for a moment before taking it in his uninjured hand. He pressed on slowly, steadily fighting through the creatures that appeared: two flaming Templars, and five burning hounds died under his magic, but Alim could steadily feel himself getting weaker as he kept losing blood and mana from each clash.

After what seemed like hours, or minutes it was hard to be sure in this place, Alim stumbled across a mouse-hole. Seeing no other way forward he shrank down to a mouse and started working his way through it. Almost by instinct he made his way to another room, and was immediately attacked by another Templar.

Alim jumped backwards, transforming back into a person as he did so. He thrust both arms forward and slammed a prison of magic around the Templar, who promptly banished it. As the man swung his sword again Alim barely brought his staff up to block it, only to have the flaming blade go halfway through the piece of wood. As the staff split in half Alim stabbed upward with the now pointy (and otherwise useless) stick into the man's throat. There was a gurgle as blood began to pool in the wound and then he fell.

As he fell a shadow of him took his place, without the flames. He said in an almost happy voice, "Thank you. The anger was all-consuming. You've released me from it." The shadow faded and information on how to clothe himself in flames to walk through the rivers of fire came into Alim's mind. He stood there absorbing it all for a moment before a slightly more pressing issue caught his attention.

His arm was no longer broken. It was in fact almost brand new. Alim looked at it for a moment in puzzlement, trying to figure out why it was like this, but in the end he gave up. The Fade worked on principles not understood by any mages, and he wasn't going to figure them out now.

The next door was one that couldn't be opened by the force of a mortal, so Alim transformed into a pride demon instead and smashed it open. To go through he took on his human form with a flame aura. He emerged to be set upon by six flaming Templars and two Mabari. Without dropping the aura Alim shot lightning into the first group, but was knocked backward by a Templar smiting him. A second dispersed Alim's aura and stabbed him in the leg. A Mabari grabbed hold of the other and the second dragged him to the ground. Desperate Alim returned to pride demon form and with a roar he threw the two dogs off of him.

Both collided with a wall and died on impact. With a furious move Alim ripped a Templar in half while the others tried desperately to kill him. He swept outward with a hand, breaking the neck of a Templar who hadn't managed to get out of the way. He stamped on another, crushing the man's spine. Two others he grabbed up and slammed against each other. Their helmets collapsed inward from the impact and he threw them aside, one collided with the final Templar and he too died. With all his opponents dead Alim returned to human form and looked on the carnage. It was horrifying. For the first time he truly stopped to realize what he had done, and the thought combined with the smell made him vomit, or at least retch since he didn't have an actual stomach in the Fade.

And as he realized that the truth about why his arm had healed hit him. The Fade him wasn't really him. It was just a manifestation of his willpower, and so long as he kept it up nothing, except maybe demons, could permanently harm him. As the thought struck him a second, far worse one did as well, if he was limited here by his connection the Fade, what exactly would a person not connected be able to do?

While that was probably impossible, it was a terrifying thought.

Alim brushed the thought aside and went through to the demon's chamber. Inside was waiting a simple rage demon. Almost laughing at the absurdity of it Alim locked the creature in a Crushing Prison and then blasted it with lightning until the thing dissipated. There had been far worse waiting for him during his Harrowing, and a single Rage demon guarding one of the islands seemed ridiculous.

The reason was revealed moments later when the creature reemerged. It shot a jet of flames at Alim that he only barely managed to dodge. Whirling a hand around he answered with a lightning bolt, and then a Walking Bomb. The demon stumbled (as much as something without legs can stumble) but stayed upright. It screeched and leapt at Alim with a movement that really should have been impossible.

Alim rolled aside, and blasted back with a magical bolt of energy that caught the demon in the face. This time he immediately followed up with a wave of lightning that steadily drove the demon down. He kept the stream of electricity up for almost a minute before the thing finally collapsed. As it did so there was a sound much like the one that had accompanied the last demon's death and Alim grabbed the pedestal. The room faded and light replaced it.

When the light faded Alim found himself in the middle of a dining room. He looked into the next room and found Solona busily working on a meal. She turned and saw him, dropping the ladle and grabbing her staff as she did so. "Who are you?"

He raised his hands and said, "I'm Alim. We're clearing the Circle of abominations together. Don't you remember?"

Solona's eyes burned and she snapped, "There is no Circle. Uldred and Irving destroyed the Templars who kept me prisoner. I'm free. Free to do anything."

Alim raised an eyebrow and asked, "And you chose to be a housewife?"

Solona glared and answered, "Yeah so? I like cooking and cleaning. Things I could never do when the Templars watched over me. Everything I do is a slap to the Chantry's face."

Alim shrugged and changed course, "Think Solona. You didn't destroy the Templars. Irving refused and Uldred unleashed abominations into the Tower. And you helped. You caused misery and suffering. Think about what you did."

Her eyes watered a little and she said, "I… No. It can't have…"

"But it did Solona. You did it. And now you must atone."

She finally nodded, and the tears started flowing freely. "You're right. I did. We have to go." As she agreed the room collapsed around them and all that was left was a barren patch of rock floating in nothingness with a single Pedestal sitting on it.

Solona collapsed crying until Alim put a hand on her shoulder and said, "It's not your fault. You're as much a victim as the others."

She shook her head and answered, "No. I was a cause of this. I'm a criminal for what I've done, not a victim. This is atonement." Her voice hardened and she said, "Now, what's going on?"

Alim gave her a short run-through of everything Niall had told him and his own guesses about this place. Solona listened carefully and finally said, "You're right. This place isn't real. I figured that out during my Harrowing. Everything that happens is an expression of our willpower. If Niall is keeping the other one from collapsing it stands to reason that they are necessary to bring down the Ward. So I'll have to stay here and keep this place up. When all the others are doing the same we all need to go to the center island. The five of us should be enough to defeat the Sloth demon."

Alim thought for a moment and agreed with her. Solona ordered, "Then find the others. I'll be waiting."

Alim nodded in appreciation and stepped over to the pedestal. He touched it and again the island disappeared in a wave of light.

The light faded to be replaced by another section of the Circle. This one resembled one of the study rooms of the upper floors, places Alim stayed away from if he could. The other mages had never really gotten over the helping Jowan escape, even if he had been on orders to do it.

Ahead of him was a door, he pushed it open and started forward. There was almost immediately a fork in the road, one led to a massive door, the other led to two monsters. They didn't notice him immediately so Alim threw a hand up and shot the first one with a Walking Bomb spell. They turned and started charging, but the one he had already hit exploded as the spell did its work. All that was left was a massive stain with splotches where the explosion had gone. The second creature kept coming though, until Alim blasted it with a lightning bolt. It writhed for a moment, before falling.

No sooner was it dead then another pair of creatures appeared from the end of the hallway. Behind them came yet more. An unstoppable tide of monsters swarmed out.

Alim blasted the front rank of monsters with a wave of lightning, before retreating. He turned to face the creatures again at the entrance to the room he had arrived in, managing to shoot down at least a dozen creatures before it was obvious the numbers would overwhelm him.

Seeing no other choice Alim transformed himself into a mouse and scurried into the hole he had previously ignored. The tunnel led on to a small area with two other holes to pick from. He went to the left-most one and scurried inside, eventually coming out in a room with yet more monsters. As he struck them down with magic Alim finally realized what they were: darkspawn. He had read about them, but never truly considered what it would be like to face them. As more emerged from one of the doors they seemed numberless.

Alim turned and fled, transforming back into a mouse as he went. He ran into the next room and dove into the next hole before the darkspawn could grab him. The hole emerged in a similar area as the last one had. This time though when Alim rounded a corner he found himself face to face with a group of at least a dozen Genlocks. He hastily shot a bolt of magic at them before turning and running the other way. He dove for the second hole, changing into a mouse as he did so. By the time he landed it was complete and Alim scurried into the hole before the monsters could catch up. He emerged into the next room and found another six darkspawn attacking a lone soldier. The man fought bravely, but it was obvious he was outmatched.

Without much choice Alim joined in the fight. He blasted two darkspawn with lightning before they even noticed him. The man cut down a third as Alim locked a prison around another. The emissary he hit with a mana clash, and the other man decapitated the final Hurlock, but was stabbed in the stomach as he did so. He collapsed along with the final foe and as Alim went over to look at the wound he gasped out, "no. Don't look for me. More will come. More always come. I've killed dozens, but there numbers are never-ending. You must go beyond the door, the unbreachable door to stop this. I will hold them if I can, go."

Even as he finished the sound of another group of darkspawn came through the corridor. Alim shot a single spell through the entrance they would come from, then turned and transformed into a pride demon. With unnatural strength he smashed the door from its hinges and strode through to find another six darkspawn waiting for him. Alim didn't bother to turn back into a human; instead he used the pride demon form's strength to crush all six of them in moments. In less than thirty seconds he had smashed down a second door, and strode through to face the demon inside.

The demon was in the form of an ogre, but Alim charged at it. His pride demon form collided with the beast and its horns slammed him in the chest. He answered by ripping one of the horns off and slamming it into the ogre's neck. It roared and in answer drove a fist into Alim's stomach. He caught the arm as it withdrew and with exact purpose snapped the bone. The demon roared and tried to headbutt him again, but this time Alim caught its head and slammed it into a wall.

It went down and Alim transformed back into himself. As it started to push itself up Alim put a hand in front of its face and fired a blast of lightning into its head. It held there for a moment, and Alim poured more electricity into the thing's head. Finally "life" faded from the demon's eyes and it fell. As it did so the pedestal was awoken and the island began to collapse around him.

Alim dashed to it and grabbed hold. As before he was transported somewhere new, this one an unfamiliar keep, but with the same sky. Slowly Alim walked up the entrance hall, and finally ascended to a level where one of his new companions was talking to another man. Alistair turned to him and asked, "Oh? Did we get some new recruits Duncan? I don't think we've been introduced. I'm Alistair."

Alim looked around and said, "Think. Why are you here?"

Alistair frowned, as if to ask what he meant, but Duncan beat him to it, "We are here celebrating the fall of the Archdemon. It died at Ostagar and the horde was destroyed. The Warden's will return to the lives we led previously now. Things will be right again."

Alim shook his head, "No. Ostagar was a disaster. The King was killed and Teyrn Loghain wasn't able to save him. They said the Wardens abandoned the King at the last moments before being cut down."

At this Alistair suddenly said, "We did not. The Wardens died beside the King when Loghain betray…" he trailed off and suddenly looked around with new focus. Finally he turned to Duncan and said, "And you died. All of you died. This isn't real. It can't be real."

Duncan sighed and asked, "Why must you make this so difficult? I promise you a life of peace and comfort. Just accept the gifts and live."

Alistair snarled, "No. This isn't peace, this is sick. The real Duncan would never have made me abandon duty. You're a demon." With that he swept his sword up and drove it into Duncan's chest. The old man gasped as the blade hit his "heart" and fell. As he did so Alistair drew the blade back out and decapitated him. The body lingered for a moment before fading into nothingness.

He turned and said, "Thank you. I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't been here."

Alim smiled and said, "I'm sure you would have realized eventually. Now, we need to plan our next move." He quickly laid out Solona's thoughts on this place and Alistair listened attentively until he was done.

Finally Alistair thought for a moment and said, "Well, I don't know nearly as much about the Fade as you two, so I'll defer to your judgment. I'll stay here to keep the island working and wait for the last two to be brought down as well. See you on the other side."

Alim nodded, then stepped up and grasped the pedestal, and was swept away to the next island.

**AN: I should probably note here that Solona's theory is completely wrong. They could actually have gone together the whole way, which would likely make the next part a bit easier for them.**


	11. Interlude 2

**Yay, it's finally done. Now back to the actual story.**

Interlude II

(The Fade, cont.)

Again the light faded. As always it was replaced with some part of the Circle. This one appeared to be a private office, most likely one of the senior enchanter's areas. There were two mouseholes, which he ignored, and a door which he went through. The hall was curved as always and behind each door he could hear the sounds of mages talking. He considered going through and trying to talk to someone, but as the sound of fighting emerged from one he thought better of it. The last door was open, so Alim peaked inside, and rapidly ducked back as a spell slammed into the wall next to him.

Inside were a group of four mages all trying to kill each other, and doing a poor job of it. Alim sped up the process with a Mana Clash spell. Through the next door he was set upon almost immediately by three insane servants, each wielding a knife. A fast wave of lightning killed them. Alim stopped over one and recognized the face of a woman who had generally been kind to him at meals.

He said a quick prayer over her; the demons had driven almost everyone insane with this place. He quickly left, not wanting to linger over what he had done. The next room was blocked by a pool of fire, which Alim answered by coating himself in flames. In the next room four rage demons emerged from the fireplaces. They quickly charged, and Alim felt the blinding rage from his previous encounter with such a creature rising. He pushed it down and answered by charging them. Cloaked in flames as he was it was almost impossible for them to even touch him as Alim methodically destroyed each one.

No sooner were the demons gone then six mages from the next room rushed at him. Alim cut them all down with a single Mana Clash and saw a girl he had once had a crush on fall dead. Beside her lay the body of an enchanter he had once helped by clearing out her storeroom. Slowly the guilt over what he was doing died down and Alim kept going. The next room saw a group of four mages discussing causing pain. Alim struck them down before they even noticed he was there.

Among the bodies was a young elf student who had once talked to him about his plans when he became an enchanter. Across from him was the body of an old man who had once signed the authorization for a Rod of Fire. The third person he didn't recognize, but the fourth was a young girl he had once persuaded that her magic wasn't a curse.

Alim choked back tears, but headed up the stairs. He had a job to do after all.

At the top of the stairs was a single, sane, mage battling two golems and three Chantry priestesses. The man was obviously being overwhelmed when Alim joined the battle. He transformed into a pride demon and punched the head off of one golem before beginning to brawl with the other. After some work, and a broken arm, Alim's pride demon form destroyed the golem and he returned to his normal look.

He went down on one knee, and rubbed his face. As the pain cleared away Alim looked up and saw the mage he'd been trying to help was dead, succumbing to the injuries the priestesses had inflicted. Alim said a quick prayer over his body and crossed the room to the next set of stairs. He looked at them for a moment, then looked at the way he had come. Both sets of stairs went upwards.

Alim proceeded up the stairs, muttering to himself, "I really hate this place."

At the top of the stairs was another empty room, the exit blocked by a locked door. With a curse Alim turned back into a pride demon and punched it down. On the other side were two more priestesses. Without even slowing Alim threw them into a wall. They hit, slid to the floor, and lay still.

Farther down the hall Alim ran into another golem. Still in his pride demon form he charged against it. The golem met him with a punch to the stomach with all its might. There was a definite sound of breaking bones; at least he assumed they were bones, and a horrible pain. Alim's demon form roared in rage and smashed a fist against the golem. There was a crunch as the stone gave way, but the golem simply responded by pulling a massive chunk of masonry out of a wall and bashing Alim on the head with it.

In retaliation Alim slammed his arm into the golem and knocked it down. With another roar he smashed a foot down on the golem's leg and watched in satisfaction as it crumbled. Not ready to be destroyed so easily the golem tried to stand, but succeeded only in pulling Alim down on top of it as the other leg couldn't balance correctly. With a final move Alim transformed back into himself and blasted the golem with lightning. The creature thrashed twice, then the head crumbled away.

With the golem inactive Alim stopped for a few minutes to catch his breath. These islands were getting harder, which meant the last one would be a nightmare. The next room held only an Arcane Horror. He almost laughed as a mana clash destroyed it before the demon even knew he was there.

Finally he opened a last door and found himself facing an abomination. The beast roared and charged at him. Alim was so caught up in the moment he missed the spell it had already cast until it slammed into him. The bolt of magic picked Alim up into the air and slammed him back into a wall. There was a crunch as a rib cracked, and Alim went down on one knee. He looked up and threw himself sideways to avoid the demon shredding him, but felt the pain in his chest flare suddenly. It was almost overwhelming, but Alim threw it off long enough to transform into a spirit. The pain faded and he lashed out with a sword he had conjured. The abomination took the blade, but in return it ripped a gash in what would have been his arm. There was pain, but nothing he hadn't already dealt with.

A moment later Alim returned to his human self, restored by the transformation, and launched a lightning bolt against the abomination as it moved to cast another spell. His electric blast stopped whatever spell the abomination had been preparing, so instead it charged again. In desperation Alim threw a forcefield around the abomination to stop the charge, and then began to think about what he could do.

The field came down sooner than he would have hoped, but Alim shot another blast of lightning into the abomination as it began moving again. As it reached him Alim dove aside, only to have the claws carve a gash in his leg. The leg gave out as Alim tried to stand up, so he finally threw another mana clash against the demon. It screeched as its own power was turned against it, and after a few moments collapsed. With a final gesture Alim shot further lightning bolts into the abomination before it ceased moving. Another quake began and Alim grabbed the pedestal.

The light faded to reveal Wynne, standing over a pile of dead apprentices. Alim couldn't name most of them, but knew Wynne had always prized her students above anything else. She looked up at him, tears flowing freely and asked, "Why, why did this happen? I thought we were going to save them."

Alim said in what he hoped was a soothing tone, "We will. Nothing here is real. They are all still alive."

The old woman looked down at the bodies and continued as if she hadn't heard. "I failed, don't you see. I swore we would save them. Yet here we stand, alone. The Wardens abandoned us. Left us to the Templars while we fought amongst ourselves."

Aim changed tracks and said, "Then let us go on. There's nothing we can do here, but maybe the living can be saved."

Wynne slowly nodded, "Maybe. We will come back to give them a proper cremation. Let us go for now." As she finished one of the students suddenly rose and in a horrible non-human voice asked, "Wynne. Where are you going? We need you."

She shrieked and turned her staff on him. "What are you?"

Alim chose then to intervene. He raised one hand and blasted the other bodies with lightning. As one the others stood and looked on him with demonic eyes. Wynne stood in shock for a moment before finally piecing everything together. Her eyes blazed as she began attacking the demons who had tricked her. Alim stood back and just watched as Wynne proved why she was a Senior Enchanter.

After three minutes of battle the demons lay dead. Wynne looked up and said, "That felt strange. I couldn't think straight. What is going on?"

Alim laid out what he knew, and what Solana had guessed or theorized. Wynne took it all in before asking, "Then why wouldn't your island collapse?"

Alim blinked and said, "We didn't think of that to be honest. I assume Niall is holding it up. But since there isn't anyone to do that here the islands have to be maintained by the dreamer."

Wynne frowned, but said, "I guess that could be possible. It still doesn't seem right though." Instead of debating further she asked, "So, only one dreamer left?"

Alim nodded. "Yes. So when the next shift occurs go to the sloth demon's hiding place."

Wynne smiled, "Of course."

Alim expected there would be something that resembled the Circle Tower and he wasn't disappointed. There were bookshelves… and a table with someone who had obviously been tortured to death. Okay, he thought, maybe not quite like the Circle then. If the other areas had been nightmares of each of them this must mean this place would be a nightmare for the last member of their little band of nuts, the one the leader seemed to think knew way too much. If that was the case, what might be here?

His question was answered as soon as he pushed open a door and was hit in the chest by, something. He stumbled back out of the way and saw a dozen holes in his torso. As consciousness started to fade Alim transformed himself into a pride demon to banish the wounds.

Thinking quickly Alim turned into a mouse and poked his head around the door. Blocking off the passageway was a mass of metal wires with sharpened points attached to it. Behind that was a long tube sticking out of sandbags. None of it looked familiar, but Alim decided not to try going that way again.

Instead he turned and scurried into a mouse hole he had ignored on arrival. After a short passage the hole emerged into another room where a dozen men stood with short weapons, which sort of looked like metal crossbows, without the bow. One of the men pointed at him, and the others raised their weapons. With a quick though Alim transformed back into a pride demon and the men began shooting. There were bursts of incredible noise before Alim ripped the first two men from where they stood and threw them amongst the others.

With a roar he went slammed into the rest. One by one they died, but the amount of damage his body was taking was unbelievable. When the last one ceased twitching, Alim started to sway, the damage taken by even his pride demon form enough to make him want to pass out. Alim barely managed to call up enough willpower to change back into a mouse. The wounds vanished as he did so, and Alim went into the next mousehole. It emerged in another empty room, with only one door leading out. Alim transformed back into a human to open it, but stood aside as he pushed it open. There was a roar and the sound of impacts on a wall, but they died down quickly as whoever was shooting realized there was no one there.

After a quick thought Alim decided to turn into a spiritual form, which might be able to ignore whatever was being shot at him. He stepped out and there was another roar as they began shooting again, but this time he felt nothing as whatever was being fired went through him. Realizing his advantage Alim raced forward, passing through the fencing as he did so. He kept going through the sandbags and launched lightning into the people on the other side. They screamed for a moment before falling. At the end of the hallway stood another sealed door.

Alim transformed into his pride demon form, then smashed it down. No sooner was it opened than an ogre charged him. This beast though wasn't the kind he had read about though. This one was armored and held a massive weapon. The weapon was roaring with a horrible sound. It was a long blade attached to a handle that was a lot bigger than it should have been. A moment later Alim found at why. The blade slammed into his shoulder, and he could feel the blade moving of its own accord beneath it. He raised a hand and smashed it into the ogre's face as it tried to push the blade downwards. As it stumbled backwards he grabbed the weapon in his other hand and slammed it into the ogre's neck. There was a screech of metal on metal as the ogre's armor disintegrated under the blow, then the crack of bone breaking. Blood sprayed from the ogre's neck and it died as the blade severed its head.

Alim dropped the weapon and returned to his spirit form and crossed through the now visible door. He emerged to another empty room, then one with an Arcane Horror. The foe was easily dispatched with a mana clash, before Alim returned to Pride Demon to smash another door open. Inside he found himself facing another group of people, this time armed with slightly larger weapons. They turned and there was a blast of fire from them, but Alim's demon form took the hits. He reached down and grabbed one man, crushing him in his claws, then dove back behind the door. He returned to human form and looked at the weapon he was still holding. With a slight smile Alim pointed it into the room and fired. The force of it almost broke an arm, but three people lay shredded by whatever it had fired. Not wanting to risk using he weapon again Alim turned spiritual, drew the sword he conjured in this form and charged. With no way of touching him the men died in moments. As the last one fell Alim returned to his human form and stepped through a Fade door.

He appeared in a burning room, and as his clothes caught fire Alim wrapped a shield of flames around himself to pass through. No sooner was he through than another pair of Arcane Horrors stood against him. Alim rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers to cast another mana clash spell. They died under the spell and Alim continued on. Waiting for him was a pair of armored ogres. One carried a massive weapon, the other carrying a blade like the last one. The first ogre pointed the long cylinder at him and began opened fire. Another roar came and Alim transformed himself into a spirit. He drew the blade and charged against it, even as the second moved to block his path. The blade came down, and slid harmlessly off the ogre's armor.

Alim swore, but transformed into a pride demon. He ripped the weapon from the ogre, then blasted it at point-blank range. The beast roared in pain, but the weapon did its work well. Within a second the ogre lay dead. The second one however was now close enough to fight him. He swung the weapon to fire on it, but the blade it carried sliced the weapon apart. Alim changed tactics and rammed the now pointy cylinder into the ogre's chin. The armor gave way and the weapon drove through.

Even as it did so the blade of its weapon hit Alim's leg. He roared, but drew the weapon out to stab down into the brain of the beast. Again the armor gave way and the ogre stumbled. Alim took advantage of its weakness to grapple the blade away and he used it to cut the ogre's head off. As the ogre died Alim returned to his human form and gasped for air. He sat there for a moment to catch his breath before going through what he knew to be the final door. Waiting for him was a desire demon who said, "Catch me if you can."

She turned into a mouse and dove into a waiting tunnel. Alim sighed and followed her. He emerged to find her waiting on the other side. With another sigh Alim asked, "Do we really have to fight? Give up please. I'm getting really sick of this."

She smiled and said, "Oh? Don't you want to see one of the really great terrors I plucked from the mind of this dreamer?"

He was about to answer, but she ignored him and began to grow. Up and up she went until she stood at least thirty feet tall. Wings sprouted and her head became misshapen. Finally a massive sword appeared in one hand and the desire demon laughed a horrible unnatural sound. She tried to smash him, but Alim ran for the other side of the room. As she turned to begin moving toward him Alim willed himself back into pride demon form. He succeeded, but was less than half her height. As Alim prepared to fight her his mind returned to the ogre's and he generated armor and a weapon for himself. Their blades met in a clash of metal. Alim barely held onto his, but managed to bring it into her leg before the demon could swing again. She screeched and batted him with one wing. Alim answered by grabbing the wing and ripping. The skin came off and the desire demon again screamed.

Finally he slammed a head into her torso, and brought the blade into her other leg. With a crash the demon collapsed and Alim raised the blade to stab her in the chest. Finally he said, "You really should have practiced a little." With that he brought the blade down and the desire demon died. The expected quake occurred and Alim turned back into a human to dive at the pedestal. It flashed and the world was consumed in light.

The island he emerged on was open to the sky. Sitting on a nearby bench was the last member of their party, along with several people he didn't know. They were working on something, and one of them had just finished explaining something when Alim walked up.

The group looked at him and Alim said, "We need to go."

The person he was looking for, Alim couldn't remember his name answered, "Do I know you?"

Alim blinked and said, "Of course. We were working to clear the Tower. A demon trapped us here, we need to keep going."

One of the others laughed, Alim glared at her, but she just smiled and asked, "What? Demons aren't real."

Alim gaped at them. What was this nonsense about? He'd battled demons all his life. Finally he said, "Of course you would say that, demon."

He whirled his staff around toward them, when he found it fly out of his hand. He tried to grab it, but the weapon whirled and fell into William's hand. With a casual motion he snapped it and said, "I know where I am Alim. I don't exist in the Fade naturally after all."

Alim reached a hand out and conjured another staff to replace it and said, "Well, then what are you doing? We need to go."

William's answer chilled him, "No. I don't want to leave. Here I can be with people I care about, and will never get snatched away again."

"But people will die…" Alim started.

William interrupted him before anything more could be said, "Let them. I don't care about what happens to your world. I just want to be home."

Alim blinked, and then punched him. He whirled and shot a bolt of lightning toward the first person, a blonde girl. She stumbled backwards from the blast the blast, then pulled out a weapon similar to those he had seen before. With a dark smile the girl opened fire on him. Alim dodged out of the way and shot another bolt of lightning at her. The rest of the group pulled out similar weapons and attacked as well.

Alim transformed into an armored Pride demon as they fired, the impacts on his armor almost making him fall. With a roar he picked up one and used the squeezed. As he did so the disguise around the demon fell and it tried to attack with magic. He crushed it and threw the demon aside. Yet as it fell one of the others drew out a larger weapon, pointed it and prepared to fire when a sword came out of nowhere to stab them.

The demon dropped the illusion to turn and saw William standing with a sword and smaller weapon than the demons were using. He raised it and shot the demon. It fell, and he stabbed it again. One of the others turned and charged at him.

As it did so Alim caught up another demon and slammed it into the ground. He turned back into a human and blasted the final demon with a wave of lightning. The demon screeched as the power rolled through it. For three second the beast tried to fight before crumpling. He looked over and saw William hacking away at the body of the demon, apparently unaware that it was dead. Finally with a shout of anger he raised the weapon and fired into it until the pistol clicked empty. He threw the weapon and then fell in front of it, screaming at the corpse.

Alim walked over and put a hand on the younger man's shoulder as he began to cry. Finally William said, "I'll never see them again, any of them. This is the last time I'll ever see my friends, family, any of them."

Alim wasn't sure how long he waited, but finally William wiped his eyes and asked in a pained voice, "So, I assume I'm the last one?"

Alim blinked and asked, "Er… How did you know that?"

"I know everything."

"Right… but yes, you're the last. The others should be moving to face the sloth demon as we speak."

William nodded and said, "Then let's finish this. I want out of here, and if we could just not mention this, ever, that would be great."

Alim smiled and said, "Of course not. Now, let's go."

The pair stepped up and touched the pedestal. The light returned for a moment before they found themselves on the Sloth Demon's island. Waiting for them were Alistair, Solona, and Wynne. There was no need for anyone to speak as the group turned to face the demon. It stood in the form of an arcane horror and asked in a tired voice, "Why? Didn't I give you what you wanted?"

Alistair stepped forward and said, "What I want and what I can have are different demon. Now though, I think we can give ourselves what we want fairly easily." He drew his sword and pointed it at the demon. Behind him the three mages readied their staves and William drew out a boxy weapon, similar to the ones Alim had seen before.

The demon vanished to be replaced by an ogre. It smashed one hand into the ground where Alistair had been, but he dodged away before bringing his sword down into its wrist. Behind him Alim shot a blast of lightning at the ogre as Wynne prepared a healing spell. Solona laughed like a maniac before shooting he ogre with a fireball. Next to them William raised his weapon and pulled the trigger. A spray of fire erupted from it, and the ogre's chest and head were suddenly fonts of blood from the impacts. A second later the weapon clicked and he moved to change the ammunition out.

As he did so the ogre was replaced by a rage demon. Before it could do anything Wynne waved a hand and enveloped it in a cone of ice. A moment later she used another ice spell. In near-desperation the sloth demon reached into the minds of those it was fighting and found another form. It grew to massive height, and brandished a massive blade. The demon slammed the sword down where Wynne was standing, but she was pushed aside by a spell from Solona who shot the demon with another fireball. It blinked quickly to clear its vision, then saw the one without a natural link to the Fade lifting a long cylinder to one shoulder. It tried to move, but there was a blast of flame from the back of the weapon, then a projectile slammed into the demon's chest. It burned through and the demon fell, transforming again as it did so.

This time the demon grew again, until it rose as a Juggernaut. The massive golem form slammed a fist into the small group it was fighting, only to be rewarded for its trouble with an explosive slapped on as the fist rose away. A moment later there was a blast and the hand was gone, pieces fell downward, but they missed its opponents.

With a roar the Juggernaut tried to stamp on them, but fell backwards as another rocket hit it in the lower jaw. As the Juggernaut fell the demon tried to transform again. This time it was too weak to settle on any truly threatening form and reverted to the arcane horror. It raised a hand to cast a spell, but Alim struck it with a mana clash. The demon gave another little whimper, and died.

In its death the entire Fade rocked, and the enchantment fell away.

The five found themselves lying on the floor in the Circle. One by one they stood up and looked for any further sign of the demon. There wasn't any. William leaned over and took the Litany of Adralla from the corpse of Niall. As he lifted it for the rest to see Alistair said, "Let's just never mention any of this. Agreed?"

The rest said in unison, "Agreed."


	12. Chapter 10

**After a month of school projects and then finals put me behind, its time for Christmas break. Which means that I will be able to catch up a little.**

Chapter X

The journey back to Redcliff was relatively uneventful. Some conman tried to sell us a holy book. Apparently he didn't realize two of the people in our group had already, and independently, bought the unique copy from him. His remains are now scattered across about six hundred square feet. No one tried to stop them.

It took a week longer than our original trip to the Circle had taken due to the larger group and mages not the most active people in Ferelden. The first real shock came in Lothering. What had once been a moderately wealthy town was reduced to burning homes and the bodies of dozens of inhabitants and refugees who hadn't fled in time.

No one said anything, but I think that was the point the giddy joy of surviving the abominations started to vanish from the mages. By the time we reached Redcliff there was almost no conversation, everyone just wanted the job over with.

We were greeted at the gates to Redcliff by a single member of the militia. He saluted as our party approached. Alistair stopped his horse by him and asked, "Has anything important happened while we were away?"

The young man shook his head, "Not that Ser Perth or Bann Teagan has informed the militia of my Lord. Though, Owen and Murdoch want to see whoever it was that went with you."

Alistair glanced at me and I shrugged, "I'll explain later."

He nodded and turned back to the militiaman, "Very well. He'll be along when the situation at the castle is done." The man nodded and Alistair led us to the castle itself. The building was still in the middle of cleanup, undead corpses were piled to one side. The rest of the courtyard was filled with broken furniture, blackened patches, or resting soldiers.

There was a cheer from some of them as we rode in, but most didn't bother. Waiting at the bottom of the steps leading to the entrance was Bann Teagan. He waved as we approached and Alistair dismounted to speak to him. Behind us the mages started awkwardly dismounting as well, most of them had never even seen a horse before. I started to get off, then lost my footing and fell. Fortunately I didn't have any weapons on me at the time, but it still hurt.

Alistair looked back and rolled his eyes, but extended a hand to help me up. As the group approached Teagan said, "Oh good. We weren't sure how much longer the defenses inside would hold."

Alistair raised an eyebrow, "Why? What's been going on?"

Teagan grimaced, "The demon has been trying to retake the main hall. It can't have that many undead left, but it's been putting more power into attacking each time. This evening probably would have been the point we had to retreat out here."

Alistair started up the steps, "Then let's get inside quickly. The sooner this is over the better."

Inside the castle was in even worse shape. The entrance was completely bare of decoration, and at the end of the hall was a barricade of furniture, bookshelves, candlesticks, and anything else the defenders could pile up. The stone was scorched black in places and the carpets had burned. There were spots on the walls where blood had dried, and bits of corpse strewn about. In other words, the hall was a warzone.

Darrian waved as our group finished surveying the damage. He looked extremely tired, like a person who hadn't slept in weeks, which he probably hadn't. Alistair carefully walked over to him, trying to avoid the debris. He extended a hand and said, "I take it everything has held."

Darrian shook it and responded, "Barely but yes. We've taken another dozen casualties since you left, but this is a lot smaller area to defend than the town was. We can afford to fight in shifts now. Still, I'm not sure of our chances if we had to hold another night."

Alistair nodded and said, "Then we should probably get this exorcism started."

Darrian waved our group in, Alistair and I went first, followed by Solana, Irving, and two other mages. Wynne and Alim took the other mages to ensure the defenses wouldn't collapse in the middle of our ritual.

Inside Leliana and Morrigan were sitting, rather far apart, and eating something that looked like shoes. It was actually some kind of stew, but looking back I really don't want to think about what went into it. Sten was sleeping against a wall and Isolde was sitting away from everyone. She was the first to leap up as our group came into the hall. The arlessa rushed over and asked, "Did you bring them? Can they help?"

Irving held up a hand and said, "We've talked about the condition of the boy, and if he is still able to project occasionally we should be able to drive the demon out. I can't promise it of course, but we will try. Now, we need some time, probably half an hour, to set up."

We left Irving and the mages to set up. As they worked Leliana demanded a full account of everything. We quickly filled her in on almost everything, leaving out certain non-important details. She was mollified by the time we were done, but as the story concluded she said, "Okay, I'm happy enough for now, but later I want details, blow by blow if you can manage it."

In the end the mages took closer to two hours to finish their preparations, none of them had ever done this, successfully, before and Irving wanted there to be as little chance of the mage sent in going insane, and slaughtering us all, as possible. All that was left was to select who went in. Surprisingly enough it was Solana who volunteered.

The other mages gathered around and began casting the spells that would send her to the Fade. It took them another half hour to finish the spells, but the ritual was successful.

* * *

Solana:

Solana hadn't been sure what to expect when the other mages sent her into the Fade again. Her Harrowing had been almost fifteen years ago, and the Sloth Demon had forced her into the Fade without being aware of it. This was different. She blinked and opened her eyes to see the green of the Fade. She blinked as she saw two ghosts walking toward her, but they took no notice of her.

As she started moving forward she heard one of the ghosts shout something. If any of the others heard it there was no sign. The first semi-recognizable area she came across held a tired old man. As she approached he said, "Have you seen my son? I can hear him, but the fog stops me from seeing."

Solona blinked as she realized that this person was Arl Eamon. She backed away without answering; there was no reason to upset him further with the truth. Instead she turned and found a portal. Ahead of her was an arch buried in a hillside. Beyond that was a bed and a small boy.

Solona slowly walked forward, suspecting a trap of some kind. No sooner had she stepped into the room than the boy said in a horrible voice, "Who are you, are you the one who made father sick?"

Solona adjusted her grip on her staff and said, "No, but I suspect you know where she is." The boy started to say something when she continued, "And I can sense your true nature." That was a lie, but there wasn't any harm in making the claim. "Why not just unveil yourself now."

The boy laughed, "Fool. You won't get near her…"

He trailed off as Solona brought her staff down on his head faster than he/it could move out of the way. The demon dropped its disguise and leapt at her, magic pulsing in its fingers. Solona threw up a shield, but still staggered under the amount of power behind the demon's attack. She backed away and blasted fire out of her fingers. The flames coalesced around the demon, which screeched for a moment, but doused them with a minor spell. As the demon spun to face her again Solona shot a bolt of energy at its head. The demon tried to block it, but was a second too slow. The blast hit it in the face, and was followed with another blast of flames.

This time the flames consumed the creature and if fell smoking to the ground. A moment later the corpse vanished in another small roll of flame. Solona poked at the area it had been for a moment; before she was satisfied it was gone. She returned the way she had come, and reentered the Fade portal. She emerged in an area that looked almost identical.

More ghosts were wandering in front of her, but this time Solona ignored them and pressed on until she reached another solid child. This time she didn't even bother asking what it was, instead she just said, "Begone demon. You cannot stop me."

It screeched at her and transformed as well. This time Solona blasted fire at it immediately, but didn't wait to see the results. Instead she darted behind an archway as the return spell came at her. There was a crash as the arch's right support crumbled. After a moment of thought about this Solona raised her staff and blasted the other support with a blast of magic. The demon laughed as the blast impacted on it, and started moving forward.

Solona didn't wait for it. Instead she raised her staff and concentrated a jet of flame from it into a narrow area and carved through the rest of both supports. As the demon came through the arch it was crushed under the stone.

The mage collapsed to her knees, gasping for air as the rush of power faded. The spell to collapse the arches had taken a huge amount of energy and concentration. She sat there resting for some time; though, she couldn't be sure how long in this place.

Finally Solona pushed herself up and returned to the Fade portal to try again. She met another imposter before coming on the real demon. Solona's entrance into the arena was met by a terrible voice, made all the worse by the sweet tone. "So we finally meet, face to face," the demon told her. "You meet me in my true form, in my domain. Yet, I have no desire to face your power, nor should you be eager to face mine. Let us converse for a time."

Solona though quickly and started talking to stall her enemy. She needed to build a plan to kill the demon here. She said, "What could you possibly have to talk to me about?"

The demon almost laughed and said, "I am the one who holds the boy's soul. We could fight of course, or negotiate. You could even benefit."

Solona started putting together a plan so she continued, "I guess I'm willing to talk." As she said so the mage started moving steadily inward, preparing her spells to kill the creature.

The demon smiled, and Solona felt sick as she saw it. "Your goal is to release the boy's soul. Is that right?"

Solona hoped the demon didn't notice what she was doing so answered, "Of course."

"And what if you could persuade me to leave voluntarily?"

Solona almost laughed at the offer, "And why would you ever agree to that?"

"Then you are at least willing to listen." It smiled again, "I leave the boy for now, but maintain the conta…" It was cut off as Solona threw a fireball at it. The demon deflected the blast with ease and said, "Pity."

As it moved to cast a spell of its own, Solona was already moving. She sprinted toward one of the Fade's lyrium deposits, so unlike the ones in the real world. She settled next to it and brought her knife from the robes. With a quick move Solona slashed open one of her arms and dropped blood onto the deposit. With a quick spell Solona bound the power of the deposit to her own and gathered it around.

She was barely in time to see the incoming flames from the demon's attack.

However, the massive boost in energy gave Solona the power to match the demon's spell, and she threw up a shield that absorbed all the energy. Before the demon could move Solona sent another spell at it, this time with the magical power of the lyrium deposit behind it. The blast of magical energy was almost solid as it impacted with the desire demon. The creature screamed in agony and another spell impacted. Three more followed. Finally the demon let out a horrible cry and disintegrated as more power flew into it. With one last gasp of energy it was destroyed.

With one last push of her magical energy, which was now almost completely exhausted, Solona exited the Fade.

* * *

It took Solona just over two hours to emerge from the Fade, how much time passed for her I really have no idea. When Solana emerged she just said, "It's done," and then passed out. Some of the militia carried her off to a sleeping pad. Soon afterward another man entered and said, "The undead have stopped trying to breach the door."

Darrian nodded and exited to check on what was going on. A few minutes later, following what sounded like the movement of really heavy things, he came back in and announced, "They're back to being actually dead. We can start clearing the castle now."

The militia rose to leave, dragging the bodies out would be their last job here, and Alistair ordered a table set up so we could discuss the next move. Teagan, Isolde, Leliana, Wynne, Irving, and (after Alistair gave the order) I joined him in the planning. His first question was, "So, how are we going to cure the Arl?"

Isolde said immediately, "The Urn of Sacred Ashes. If we can find it Eamon can be cured immediately."

Teagan snorted, "Isolde, give up. The Urn is a myth. You've lost almost all your husband's knights searching for it. No, we're going to need a better solution."

Isolde started to answer, when Wynne came back inside and asked, "May I see him? We might be able to reverse whatever happened."

Isolde nodded and led Wynne to the Arl's bedroom. As they left Teagan shook his head. "I know Eamon funded a man named Brother Genitivi to find the Urn, but he's disappeared and the knights who went to find him never came back. If the mages can't heal the Arl he will die. After that, I don't know how we can get the Arl on our side."

As he finished speaking Alistair looked at me and said, "So, anything to add?"

I shot him a dirty look and knew I was going to regret my decision, did I mention that having a conscience kind of sucks? Rather than keeping quiet though I said, "The Urn is real."

Teagan looked at me with a little skepticism and said, "Oh and how would you…?"

He was cut off as Alistair asked, "Where is it?"

I scowled and said, "A mountain near a village called Haven to the West of here. It's now overrun with a dragon cult."

Teagan looked like he was going to say something, but Alistair just said, "And you're sure." I nodded miserably. That was enough for him, "Very well. We'll get supplies and be head out as soon as winter's over. We probably have another year before the Archdemon has regathered its forces and moves against us. The coming winter will force Loghain to stop his campaign against the nobles and send everyone into winter quarters. If we leave at the beginning of spring we might miss the blizzards. Once the Arl is recovered we can get him to call a Landsmeet to settle the civil war and reunite the army. A little extra time to make sure the Dalish and Dwarves will support us and we might actually stand a chance against the Archdemon. Is it a plan?"

Everyone nodded. Irving said, "I'll spend the time ensuring mages are sent to the armies of the forces arrayed against Loghain. Most of our combat mages are dead, but we have healers who would likely be welcomed by their armies."

Alistair raised an eyebrow and asked, "Are you comfortable with that? The treaty only compels aid against the darkspawn."

Irving nodded, "Oh I'm sure. We won't win without an army behind us. Mages, dwarves, and elves will all be a help, but in the end peasants outnumber all of us. They will be the bulk of any force we can put together. The more we can keep alive now the better things will be later."

Alistair nodded his understanding, but as he did so Isolde and Wynne returned. Wynne looked grave as she said, "There's nothing I can do. Whatever Jowan did is beyond my skill, especially now that the demon's influence has manifested as well. I'd say he has maybe three months, probably closer to two." She noted the looks on our faces and asked, "Is something wrong?"

Alistair groaned, but Leliana was the one who answered, "I guess that plan is out the window."

Teagan, still not sure exactly why Alistair would believe me, asked, "Can you point out exactly where Haven is on a map?

To be honest, no I wasn't, but I went over to the map and started trying to remember. Finally I pointed to a spot slightly northwest of Redcliff and said, "I believe its somewhere around here."

Teagan marked the place on another map and brought it over to us. Alistair looked at the spot and whistled slightly, "Up in the mountains as winter starts. This is going to be really, really bad. We're going to need a warm clothing, cloaks, gloves, everything. Food to last for at least a month, more would be better, horses. And we're going to need it as fast as possible. It will take us at least three weeks to get out there, and as long to get back. We don't have much room here. We get out there, find the Urn, and get back. No delays or distractions. Got it?"

Everyone nodded and I said, "While you'll are working on that, I'm going to talk to Owen and Murdoch." In a quieter voice I muttered to Alistair, "Keep Sten in the castle. Don't let him outside for any reason until I get back."

He looked questioningly at me, but nodded. Finally he said, "Get ready, we leave early tomorrow morning."

* * *

I left the group inside the castle to prepare; outside the temperature was dropping rapidly as the sun started going down. I pulled my coat on tighter and wished for another layer of clothing. Finally though I started down the hill into the village.

The short walk helped me lose feeling in my hands, which was relieved when I knocked on the door of Owen's forge and Valena met me. There was a rush of warm air and she smiled a little and said, "Father's been hoping you would come by."

I smiled back and stepped inside. Sitting on a table was a short barrel. I stepped up to it as Owen came into the forge and said, "So?" I looked inside and nodded, "It looks good Owen. We won't know how much until we can do a proper test though."

Owen settled down and asked, "Does this proper test involve whatever Murdoch's been cooking up?"

I nodded and said, "Yes. Do you know where he is?"

Owen thought then told Valena, "Could you go to the Chantry, Murdoch should be in there right now. Bring him over soon."

She nodded, took down a cloak and exited the room. Once she was gone Owen asked, "So, what exactly is this about? I don't even have it done completely. The barrel was the easy part. It will take weeks to finish the rest." He motioned toward the carriage the cannon would have to sit on.

I thought for a moment and then asked, "Do you think you could finish it faster if the design were simpler?"

If he noticed my dodge of his question he ignored it. "Yes, probably. If it didn't have the moving parts I could get it done in a week."

I was distracted as Valena came back inside with Murdoch behind her. Owen thanked her, then asked her to please leave the room. She did so, and once she was gone, and probably listening behind the door, Murdoch asked, "So, this is the other part of the big project I assume."

I nodded and said, "I think it's time to show you two exactly what this is going to do. Where are you keeping the materials I asked you to gather?"

Murdoch said immediately, "We're keeping them in barrels in the Tabris woman's store. They're empty now that the oil is gone. Want to go there?"

I nodded and said, "Yes. But we'll need to be careful."

Murdoch looked a little sick, but led me to the store. Owen, out of curiosity followed. The store opened slightly and Murdoch raised a torch for us to see inside. The light barely went out a few feet, and was extremely dim, but it was better than nothing. I gingerly opened one barrel with my knife and scooped some into a small cloth sack. I took the cloth back outside and told them, "Okay. Don't make too much noise."

Quickly I knelt down and lit the bag on fire. As it caught I leapt back and settled down a few feet away. There was a sudden bang as the powder inside caught and exploded.

Murdoch and Owen both looked at the burned ground in shock and finally Murdoch said, "Maker. What was that?"

I explained, "Where I come from it's called black powder. That particular mixture is what is required in cannons, what I'm getting Owen to build. There are a couple of other recipes, the main one is for a smaller weapon, but I can't remember them. We might also make them into traps, or mount powder onto arrows. Though, that might take experimentation, as I don't know how to do it."

Murdoch answered, "Okay. We'll keep working then. We might well win after all."

I smiled, but didn't mention that there was no possible way we could make enough powder or guns to beat the darkspawn. There was no real need to make them think about just how truly screwed we really were at the time.

break

The next morning Alistair woke us before dawn and we left as the sun started going up. Our group was fairly large: apart from Alistair and myself, Leliana, Wynne, Sten, Morrigan, Alim, and Solona were going as well. Eight people in all going to find a holy object, which most of them were convinced did not exist.

We had provisions for a month, as many clothes as we could wear or carry, and a map that would take us to the general area of our destination. It took a month to make it to Haven, with little incident.


	13. Chapter 11

**It's been a little late coming I know, but I've been having issues with my computer again. Hopefully this will be the last time. Anyway, please read and review. All comments are appreciated.**

Chapter XI

"I really hope this is the place," Alistair said as we began up the path toward another village. We had already gone through three towns that were wrong. His hopes were confirmed when a guard met us on the road up.

The man was wearing slightly rusty chainmail and he demanded, "What business do you have in Haven?"

Alistair blinked and asked, "So, this is Haven."

The guard nodded, "Yes. Why are you looking for it?"

Alistair ignored his question and continued, "Is there a Brother Genitivi here?"

The guard shrugged, "Outsiders aren't welcome in Haven. If you really must stay, go see Father Eirik in the Chantry. Otherwise, you may restock at the store, but then we want you gone."

The guard turned and began moving up into town. When he was out of earshot Alistair muttered, "I think things just got colder, don't you." After a moment, he started upward, but Sten moved to block his way. Alistair looked up and asked, "What is it?"

Sten scowled down at him and said, "Interesting strategy, tell me, do you plan to go north until it becomes south, then attack the archdemon from the rear?"

Alistair shrugged and answered in a joking voice, "It'll never see this coming."

Sten nodded and said, "Of course not. My enemy running away and climbing a mountain would surprise me as well."

The brightness vanished from Alistair's voice as he responded, "We're not running from anything."

Sten snarled at him, the stoic self-control of a Qunari fading under the contempt he was feeling, "The archdemon is our goal, yet we are chasing after the remnant of a burnt woman. I will not stand quietly while you run from battle."

Alistair blinked, "We need the Ashes to cure Arl Eamon. Without him we can't rally Ferelden behind us to battle the Blight."

Sten sneered, "Foolish. You chase myths rather than our target."

Alistair drew himself up to his full height, which put him about a foot shorter than Sten was and said coldly, "If you have problems with what we're doing feel free to leave."

Sten shook his head, "No, I'm taking command.

Alistair barely got his shield out when Sten's sword came down on him. He threw the blow off and managed to bring his sword up to counterattack. The blow hit Sten's armor, but failed to penetrate. Sten grunted in pain for a moment, but his two-handed sword came around again, faster than it should be possible to swing a sword that large, and it slammed into Alistair's shield again. The shield dented and Alistair stumbled backwards under the blow.

Alistair lashed out and kicked Sten's leg out from under him. The giant went onto one knee, giving Alistair the time to roll away. Alistair grabbed a knife from his boot with is left hand and slammed it into Sten's leg. The giant's eyes widened and he stamped down on Alistair's hand before staggering away.

Alistair grabbed his shield and sword again, but his fingers could not grasp the shield's handle and he let it fall. The longsword met Sten's greatsword, and was swatted aside with almost no effort. Behind Sten Leliana drew her dagger and prepared to end the fight, but Alistair shook his head, she frowned, but put the dagger way. Sten did not notice and launched another flurry of blows. Alistair managed to avoid or block them all, but he was slowing down.

Alistair stabbed forward as Sten move to strike again. The point of his sword drove through the Qunari's armor and plunged into his side. He quickly drew the point back and moved aside before Sten could strike again. The next blow from Sten's sword caught Alistair on the chest. There was a horrible crack and Alistair fell back with a horrible look of pain on his face.

Sten brought his sword down on Alistair's sword again and knocked it out of his hand. He brought his sword around again to finish the job, but as he did so, Leliana and I moved at the same time. My pistol roared, the bullet slamming into Sten's back. He staggered from the impact and Leliana brought her dagger down where Sten's heart should have been. The dagger punched through armor, skin, and muscle. He let out a gurgle, and then collapsed.

Before Alistair could say anything Wynne descended on him. Her hands glowed a little and his fingers straightened out. A few minutes passed as the magic finished its work and he stood with a little grimace. Wynne said, "Careful. You will be sore for a couple of days. You had broken ribs and fingers."

Alistair smiled at her and said, "Thanks Wynne." Then he glanced over at Leliana and me before saying, "And I see that neither of you can follow orders. Thanks for that."

He glanced down at Sten and asked, "So, what do we do about him?"

There was silence for a few moments but finally Leliana said, "We need to get moving. If what William has told us is right this town doesn't look too kindly on outsiders. If he isn't dead they'll deal with him."

Alistair nodded and started into town. There were few people outside, but they glared at us as we passed through. Alistair asked a few for directions to the Chantry. Several minutes passed before we reached a tall, spike archway that led up a tall hill to an amazing building. The path leading up was lit by a series of torches that barely gave off any light. The shadows added to the gloominess of the place and Leliana whispered to me, "This seems like a horrible place for Andraste's remains."

I shrugged; I'm not an Andrastian and never have been, so I really couldn't judge.

The Chantry itself was a masterpiece of construction, especially considering this town almost certainly had no architects and extremely limited building materials. There were stained glass windows chronicling the life of Andraste, and ending with some confusing pictures of a dragon rising from her ashes.

Alistair went to the door, opened it, and slipped through. One by one, we followed him, trying to make as little noise as possible. Inside the building were two dozen people listening to a man speaking. He was speaking about the reward awaiting the people of Haven who had guarded the remains of Andraste for so long. It sounded magnificent enough, but I wasn't paying close enough attention to him to hear most of it. My attention had been drawn to the six armed guards stationed around the building. Solana had noticed them too and I saw her knife sitting in one hand. Leliana dropped back so Wynne and Alim blocked her from view of the people inside the Chantry, hiding her bow and a ready arrow.

After a moment of speaking, the man who must have been Father Eirik at the front looked up and saw our group. He immediately stopped speaking and said, "That is enough for today, I will see you all tomorrow."

One woman objected, "But we haven't performed the sacraments, or sung the invocation, or…"

"We need not perform the sacraments today," the priest, told her gently, "We have visitors." The woman nodded sadly and the people exited the building. The priest looked over at us and said, "It is generally considered rude to intrude on such gatherings."

Alistair answered diplomatically, "You need not end your sermon on our account. We were willing to wait." Leliana and Wynne nodded, everyone else obviously disagreed, but didn't want to say anything.

Eirik shook his head, "No, it is better this way. The villagers are uncomfortable in the presence of strangers."

Alistair nodded, "Understandable I guess. Then let us keep our time here brief. Is there a Brother Genitivi in town?"

Eirik looked away and said, "We find outsiders disruptive. They come and Haven is changed. We cannot let that happen. Brothers, do what must be done."

The guards started moving almost immediately, but Leliana was faster. Before the first could even draw his sword, she had put an arrow in his throat. As he fell, Solana slashed the knife across her palm. The blood coalesced in front of her, and she froze two of the guards where they stood.

The other three were moving, but Morrigan caught one as she finished transforming into a wolf. Another tried to match his sword against Leliana's daggers, a foolish move as she put four stab wounds in him in short order. The final man tried to flee, but Leliana whirled as he did so and threw one of her daggers into his back.

Alistair meanwhile brought his sword up against Eirik. The old man answered by blasting at him with his staff. Before he could do, so again Alistair fell into his Templar training, turning the magic against the priest, the stabbed low. Eirik let out a gasp as Alistair's sword caught him in the lower stomach. Alistair quickly finished him and turned to see if we needed any help.

As he did so Wynne stepped up and ordered, "Solana, let them go. We can kill them if necessary, but not like this." The two guards Solana was holding were silently screaming in horror as she turned their bodies against them. Solana ignored her and continued, though the look on her face showed she wasn't enjoying it. Finally, Wynne raised her staff and said, "If you don't stop on your own I will stop you."

They stood there for minutes, but finally Solana lowered her hand and the guards settled onto the ground, too close to dead to move any more. Alistair said, "Okay then, that was disturbing. We still need to search this place though. Now," he continued, looking at me, "Where is the Urn?"

I thought for a moment, and finally said, "In the Mountain, but we're going to need Genitivi to unlock the doorway for us. He should be somewhere in this Chantry, oh and we're going to need the amulet that Father Eirik wears. It's the key."

Alistair nodded said, "Leliana, get the amulet. The rest of you, find Genitivi."

Several minutes passed in a methodical search of the building until finally Alistair called, "Come look at this."

He was standing in front of a wall that had an archway in the middle, but no opening. A moment of searching revealed a lever that let us slide the wall away. Inside was a man lying on the ground, unable to sit up. Alistair knelt down and asked, "Brother Genitivi?"

He opened his eyes and said, with obvious relief in his voice, "You're… you're not one of them… thank the Maker."

Alistair asked calmly, "Are you alright?"

Genitivi snorted, "What do you think? Weeks of scant food, little water, lots of torture… oh, I've never felt better."

Alistair answered brightly, "Really?" Moments later he continued, "Wynne, can you do something?"

She leaned down and raised one hand. Genitivi's leg glowed slightly. Genitivi slowly pulled himself up as the magic went through his system. He waited for the light to fade before saying, "Thank you. I don't have time to rest now though. I'm so close. The Urn is just up the mountain."

Alistair nodded, "I need to find the Ashes. One of my companions told me you could get us to them."

Genitivi blinked, "Well, I guess that's true. If you can get me the Father's medallion I can open the door to the Urn, but how did he know that?"

Alistair shrugged, "No idea. We haven't discussed that yet. Though, I think it is coming quickly."

Genitivi nodded quickly and said, "Then follow me. We need to move quickly. The villagers will have warned the guardians of the mountain by now. If we don't get moving they'll get back and we'll have to fight them to get back."

He stood a little unsteadily and started toward the door. Alim and I caught him and Alim said, "You're still in no condition to climb a mountain on your own." Genitivi nodded gratefully and let us help him out the door.

He led us up a small path next to the Chantry, saying quietly, "This is a path up that most of the village doesn't know about. Father Eirik used it when he needed to speak with the leader of the guardians inside the temple."

Talk let up as we started to go higher. The climb took three hours, with several rest breaks in between, until finally Genitivi pointed toward a hidden doorway in the rock. "Here it is. Go in here and we'll reach the door where the key must be used. Alistair opened the door, Alim and I half-carried Genitivi inside after him. The rest of our group trailed in afterward.

Just inside was a staircase cut into the stone and another door lay at the top. Genitivi took the medallion from Leliana, fiddled with it until it unfolded, then inserted it into a slot in the doorway and carefully opened the door. He sighed in relief, "I saw that happen several times, but I wasn't entirely sure if I could repeat it." He motioned forward and we walked in.

The sight was magnificent. There was a massive hall cut into the mountainside. Pillars and statues lined the entire room. Once it would have been majesty unmatched, but now it was dilapidated and looked on the verge of collapse. There was evidence of maintenance, but not on the scale required to keep a monument like this intact for much longer. Snow was piled up inside, covering some of the smaller statues and coating pillars. It reminded me of Ostagar, a ruin that was barely maintained. If a visitor today saw the hall, they wouldn't be able to recognize the place.

Genitivi leaned against a pillar and said, "Leave me. I'm in no condition to go fighting through this place. Just find the Urn."

Alistair put a comforting hand on his shoulder and said, "Don't worry. We will. Come on."

He led us out of earshot then turned to me and said, "Okay. What exactly are we up against?"

I blinked, "Um… A lot of cultists, some drakes, mages, and there's a High Dragon on the peak."

Alistair looked at me dumbfounded, "And you didn't think this worth mentioning because…"

I shrugged, "I forgot. Sorry, I haven't been exposed to this information in a while. It's taking a little time to come back."

He shook his head and said, "Then is there any way to avoid all this nonsense?"

I thought and finally said, "If we go forward, up the stairs and then go right I think it will lead us to a back way."

Alistair nodded, "Good. Let's do that then. Okay people, time to get moving."

Solana, Alim, and Morrigan immediately started following him, but it took a few seconds of convincing to get Leliana and Wynne to stop looking in awe at what lay around them. When they followed, we passed a bonfire in the middle of the room and started up the staircase when the first Reavers came at us. There were five of them, and three more archers behind them.

Morrigan leapt at one, transforming into a wolf as she did so. Her jaws closed around the man's neck and crushed his throat between her teeth. Alistair slammed his shield into another cultists face and finished him with a stab to the upper chest. An archer lined up a shot on Alistair, only to be caught in the throat by an arrow from Leliana.

Another Reaver charged at me, and I lost track of the fight. My saber met the handle of his ax and was swatted aside. The parry had managed to slow the ax enough that I could move out of the way of the blow, but he was on the offensive again almost immediately. The ax came around again and I barely managed to get out of the way, even so the blade grazed along my arm. The pain was horrible, but only for a moment as he came at me again. The wound forgotten I dodged around it this time and the saber landed on his right hand. The blade stopped at the bone, but the damage was done. The Reaver dropped his ax as the hand failed, and a moment later, I grimaced and brought the saber to his neck.

By the time I looked up the rest of the fight was over. One of the archers had been blown apart by… something on of the mages did, the rest were dead in various horrible ways. Alistair looked up from his last opponent and said, "Well, I think we should get moving before the noise attracts undo attention."

No one argued and he led us up the stairs. At the top were three doors, one forward, and one to the left and right. He glanced back and asked, "We go right?"

I nodded, "I think so."

Alistair opened the door and stepped inside. The room on the other side was frozen. There were icicles hanging from the roof, snow piled everywhere, and a wall of ice blocking the hallway. Alistair stepped up to it and squinted through, "Okay, I think I can see daylight on the other side. Can anyone melt their way through?" The last bit was directed to the four mages.

Predictably, Solana was the one who stepped forward, fire has always been a specialty of hers. She made a few preparations, but finally raised her staff and a wall of flames blasted from the end of it. The wall began to melt under the fury of her power and three minutes later, she had destroyed the entire wall. With a sarcastic wave, she motioned for someone to go through. Alistair went first, the rest of us followed a little behind.

As we exited to the snow again there came a roar from overhead and Alistair shooed us all back inside. From above us came the largest animal I'd ever seen. It was a massive lizard with winds, scales, claws, a fully-grown and mature High Dragon. The most feared creature in the world. It flew for a few seconds before settling onto a small raised portion of the plain ahead of us, curled up, and began to nap.

No one said anything for several minutes, but finally Alistair motioned for everyone to go, but before that he said, "No talking, no sneezing, as little noise as possible. That thing can't wake up or we're all dead.

Silently we made our way across the mountaintop, trying to avoid drawing any attention from the High Dragon. Time slowed down and we froze every time there was a slightly extraordinary noise, hoping that the Dragon wasn't awake. Our precautions paid off as we approached an entranceway underneath the dragon's perch without incident. With one final dash, we rushed through the door and slammed it behind us.


	14. Chapter 12

Chapter XII

The Urn of Sacred Ashes is the most holy item in the Andrastian Faith. Finding it was equivalent to a person in my home finding the Ark of the Covenant, with all the legendary powers intact. The importance of the discovery cannot be understated. The Urn has the power to cure all wounds and illness. This stretches from something like the smallest case of cowpox all the way to the Taint itself.

Yet, the Urn has a finite amount of ashes within. Each time it is used there is one less person it can heal later. Every time we reach in and use the greatest power ever found we have to wonder who we are sacrificing in the future. Make no mistake, the Urn is Fereldan's greatest treasure. Its use can only be sanctioned by the King and Chancellor in concert.

The ramifications extend beyond that however. The Urn gave Fereldan bargaining power over every single Andrastian in Thedas. When the Divine threatened and Exalted March after Alistair started extending rights to mages it was his threat to destroy the Urn that forced her to back down.

When another Exalted March was threatened during Alistair's campaign to limit the Chantry's political power, again it was the Urn that gave him the upper hand. When he demanded funds to rebuild the mountain as a proper tomb for Andraste, to build roads that would stretch from everywhere in Fereldan to the tomb (and incidentally connect the entire country) it was the Urn that gave him the upper hand. To put it simply, whoever holds the Urn, holds the Chantry hostage.

None of us knew that at the time of course. All we could think of were the defenses that guarded the Urn, defenses that few have overcome since we made it. What follows is not a guide to reach the Urn, for the defenses will shift depending on the challenger.

DO NOT TRY THIS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. The challenges are deadly to all who fail.

* * *

We entered the mountain as quickly as possible, and closed the door quietly. Waking the dragon was not a chance anyone was willing to take. The entrance to the mountain was largely intact. The carvings were still recognizable, and there were no mounds of obscuring the magnificence. Regardless, the neglect of centuries was obvious. What should have been a wonder of the world was instead a dilapidated ruin.

We proceeded up the stairs, avoiding the places where they had been worn away. The entrance staircase led into a small hallway with statues of armored ladies holding shields. Several were missing heads, covered in spiderwebbing, or had fallen over. The floor was ripped up in several places, and rubble had collected from a spot where the ceiling had caved in. As our group stood together, looking at the state of Andraste's tomb, I could see Leliana and Wynne crying. Alistair and Alim looked ashen at the state of the complex. Solona seemed to waver between sad and almost excited. Morrigan was completely unimpressed about anything, but held her tongue.

We proceeded in when a guardian stood to block us, saying, "Welcome pilgrim." His voice had a deep, soothing quality to it that frankly was kind of disturbing. The voice seemed to sink into your brain and lower your defenses.

Alistair stepped forward and said, "We come for the Urn."

The guardian nodded and said in his disconcerting voice, "You have come to honor Andraste, and you shall. If you prove yourself worthy."

Alistair blinked, "What if we are not worthy?"

The guardian steadily answered, "Then you shall not come to the Urn. If you are worthy, you will see the Urn and be allowed to take a pinch for yourself. If not…" He trailed away, the implications ringing.

Alistair smiled and said, "Let us discuss this for a moment." The guardian ignored him as we stepped back and Alistair said, "Okay. We need to decide right now who comes with us."

Morrigan stepped back again, "I will not be going. If this guardian looks for someone that extolls the virtues of Andraste I am not wanted."

There was a quick discussion back and forth, but no one else withdrew. Finally Alistair turned and went back to the Guardian. He stood aside and said, "Before you go, I must speak to you all." There was a ringing as he spoke to each of us in our minds. What he said to the others I have no idea. To me however he asked, "I cannot see you. The others are an open book to me, their connection to the Fade draws me in. Yet, you should not exist. More than that, you cannot exist."

I mentally raised an eyebrow and asked, "What is that supposed to mean? Of course I exist."

The guardian shook his head, though not physically if that makes sense. "I know you exist, and that is the problem. You cannot exist, yet you do. What are you?"

I mentally shrugged, "I'm an Accounting student from another reality. One where none of this could exist outside the imagination."

The Guardian seemed slightly mollified by that answer and said, "Then I will leave you to your own mind. I am uncomfortable staring into an abyss." I felt the presences slip away and was left thinking about exactly what he had meant.

Our little group stood still for a while before Solona said, "I think I will stay behind as well."

Alistair looked at her as if to ask why, but the woman's face was white and she just shook her head. He nodded in understanding and led the rest of us through the doorway and into the Gauntlet.

The doorway opened into another massive hallway. The ceiling arced up thirty feet before meeting in domes at the top. We stood looking at it for several minutes before finally I asked, "Okay. I have to ask. How do you people manage this kind of nonsense?"

Everyone was torn from their reverie and Alistair asked, "What?"

I motioned toward the ceiling. Well, how in the name of God do you build a hall like this into the middle of a mountain without dynamite? Or that tower the mages live in, or the stupid tower down at Ostagar. How do you people manage it?"

Everyone blinked until finally he said, "Um… magic."

I looked up again and muttered about wasted effort but let the subject drop.

The pathway to the next room was blocked by spirits of the original followers of Andraste. Each asked us a riddle to prove we were intelligent (in which case better riddles probably should have been picked) and that we also were followers of Andraste (or at least capable of opening a book.)

The first spirit to block our path was a woman named Brona, I think. As she approached she intoned in a voice much too deep, and there were further voices in the background giving a chorus of what she had said. "Echoes from a shadow realm, whispers of things yet to come. Thoughts strange sister dwells in night, swept away by dawning light. Of what do I speak?"

Alistair was the first to say, "What?"

Before anyone could answer I said "Dreams."

Brona looked past us and said, "A dream came upon me as my daughter slumbered beneath my heart. It told of her triumph and betrayal. I am sorrow and a mother's regret for the daughter she could not save." The voices trailed off and the spirit vanished.

Before anything else could happen Alistair said, "Okay. What was that?"

I looked at him and said, "It was a riddle. I assume that if we answer wrong something horrible attacks us. Of course, that was a fairly horrible riddle since dreams do absolutely none of that, but still."

He nodded and said, "Okay then. I think we'll let you do the talking."

I smiled and went to the next spirit. The next was a woman named Ealisay who intoned, "The smallest lark could carry it, but a strong man might not. Of what do I speak."

I immediately answered, "Music."

The woman looked down and said, "I was Andraste's greatest friend in childhood, and always we would sing. She celebrated the beauty of life. And all who heard her were filled with joy. The Maker himself was moved by Andraste's song. Then she sang no more of simple things." She vanished as well and I approached the next spirit.

The third spirit spoke in a harsh tone, saying, "An eye for an eye…"

Before she could continue I said, "Revenge."

She nodded, "Yes. My husband would have chosen a quick death for Andraste. But I forced him to promise she would die publicly with her warleaders. So all might know the Imperium's strength. I am justice, I am vengeance. Blood can only be paid in blood."

She disappeared and I muttered after her, "Yes because that worked out so well for you." Behind me Leliana was the only one who heard and she had to stifle a giggle. Everyone else looked at her with curiosity but she waved them off.

The next spirit was an elf, Thane Shartan. He asked in a quiet voice, "I'd neither a guest nor trespasser be; in this place I belong, that belongs also to me. Of what do I speak."

I blinked and asked, "May I have a little time to think about it?"

He nodded and I backed away quickly. Alistair looked at me and asked, "What is it?"

I glanced back at Shartan and whispered, "I have no idea. That riddle made no sense."

Alim spoke up and said, "What? You haven't had any trouble so far."

I nodded, "Yes. That's because I am fairly good at riddles and these aren't hard ones. But that… that's not a riddle. That's a question along the lines of what has four wheels and flies, it makes no sense."

Wynne thought for a moment before saying, "The answer is home." Everyone turned to look at her and Wynne explained quickly, "All of these people asked their questions pertaining to them during Andraste's life. Shartan was fighting to give a home to the elves."

I nodded, "That fits I guess. The riddle was still stupid, but I think that could be the answer. Should I try it." Alistair nodded and I turned back to Shartan and said, "A home."

Shartan sighed and said, "It was my dream to give my people a home where we would have no masters. So I led my people against the Imperium, but she was betrayed and so were we."

The fifth spirit was General Maferath, he spoke quietly, with regret tinting the voices behind his own, "A poison of the soul, passion's cruel counterpart. From love she grows, till love lies slain."

I stood there for a moment then muttered, "These are a lot harder without multiple choice." I stepped away from him and said, "Okay, history of the General please."

Leliana and Wynne took turns explaining the man's history: the husband of Andraste who turned against her and betrayed her to the Tevinters. As they finished I finally asked, "Why though? Why did he turn against his wife?"

The pair stood silent for a moment before Leliana said, "Well, Andraste was called the Bride of the Maker. He might have resented that."

Wynne nodded, "It's possible. Though, I don't think resentment is the answer."

Leliana thought for a moment before saying, "I guess jealousy."

They looked at me and I shrugged, "You two are the ones who know the story best, so I'll go with your thoughts on the subject." I turned around and said to the spirit, "Jealousy."

The spirit looked down and he said softly, "Yes, jealousy drove me to betrayal. I was the greatest general of the Almarri, but beside her I was nothing. Hundreds fell before her on bended knee, they loved her as did the Maker." His spirit faded and the next words were barely audible, "I loved her too, but what man can compete with God." The spirit was gone a moment later.

The sixth spirit was one of Disciple Havard. He spoke with power behind his words and said, "The bones of the world stretch toward the skies embrace. Veiled in white, like a bride greeting her groom. Of what do I speak."

I muttered to the others, "Bad metaphors," then answered loud enough for him to hear, "Mountains."

The spirit looked above us and said, Yes, I carried Andraste's ashes out of the Tevinter into the mountains to the East where she could gaze ever into her Maker's sky." He paused to look around the entire hall before finishing quietly, "No more fitting a tomb than this could we find."

His spirit vanished then I asked, "Wasn't Andraste burned north of here?"

No one had an answer for the seventh spirit approached. He was another disciple, Cathaire. He asked in a horrible, horrible accent, "No man has seen it, yet all men have felt it. Lighter than air, yet sharper than any sword. Comes from nothing, but would fell the strongest armies. Of what do I speak."

Again I stepped back and said to Wynne and Leliana, "Okay, you two are up again. Who is this and what did he do?"

They glanced at the spirit and Leliana said, "That would be Cathaire, commander of Andraste's armies. He drove the Tevinters to the gates of Minrathous itself."

I nodded, "Okay, got it. But how? How did the armies of Andraste beat the Tevinters?"

Wynne thought for a moment then said, "The Blight had just ended. The Imperium was at the weakest it had ever been."

Leliana added, "And there were a series of bad harvests. The Imperium could barely feed itself."

My face lit up and I said, "That's it. Hunger. It fits with the riddle." I turned back to the Disciple and said "Hunger."

He nodded and his voice took on a fire it had lacked before, "Yes. The Maker scorched the fields of the Imperium and let us starve their armies. They were easily defeated without food in their bellies."

As he vanished the final spirit approached. He spoke softly, regret filling both his voice and the chorus that echoed him, "She wields the broken sword and seperates true kings from tyrants. Of what do I speak?"

I stepped back again and asked, "Okay, who's this and what did he do?"

Wynne looked at the outline of clothing the man was wearing and said, "That would be Archon Hessarion. He plunged his sword into Andraste as she burned, ending her life immediately rather than allow her to suffer needlessly."

I turned back and answered, "Mercy." That answer I had thought was correct, but needed a little verification for.

Archon Hessarion hung his head and said, "Yes. I slew Andraste so her suffering would end. I am the penitent sinner. I show compassion that it might be shown to me."

He bowed his head and as he vanished I whispered after him, "He shall cast your sins from him so far as the East is to the West." As the spirit vanished he might have inclined his head toward me at those words, but I can't be sure.

After spirit was gone Leliana whispered, "What was that from?"

I shrugged and said, "It was one of the psalms in my own religion. I don't know which one though."

She nodded a little, and looked like she was burning with questions about it, but let them slide as Alistair said, "Let's keep going."

He led the way through the now open doors into an empty room. I started moving on, but no one moved to follow. They all stood rooted where they were standing, staring at something only they could see. I must have stood there waiting for almost ten minutes before Leliana snapped out of her trance. She blinked and joined me in waiting. Three minutes later the others finally started to come out of their own trances. None of them said anything about what they had seen, and thankfully no one asked what I had seen.

To this day I am still not entirely sure why I wasn't effected by the Gauntlet, but it probably has something to do with my mind being closed to Fade spirits. I don't exist inside the Fade you see, or at least shouldn't. On those rare occasions I get sucked in, the demon responsible must have an obscene amount of power. Then they find out that what shouldn't exist inside the Fade can't be controlled unless it wants to be.

Back on topic though the others recovered after a few minutes, but Alim turned and left the Gauntlet to wait with Morrigan and Solona. The rest of us pushed on. The next room held nothing at first, but as we entered there were disturbances in the air that moved forward. There were three in total, four invisible somethings. One moved toward Alistair and as he drew his sword so did it. Alistair and his invisible twin brought swords together in identical movements and there was a ring of metal on metal as the two met. Near him Leliana was matching daggers with a similar invisible opponent. Farther away Wynne was locked in a duel with another.

Finally there was a disturbance in front of me, but it didn't have a weapon drawn as close as I could tell. Curious I drew my saber, and across from me so did my double. There was a moment of silence, then I dropped it. My invisible double did the same. With a quick motion I set my revolver down as next to the saber, and my double mimicked my action.

Finally realizing what the test was I called to the others, "Put your weapons down."

Alistair glanced over at me, then shouted, "What?" When he looked back it was with barely enough time to block a slash that came at him.

I called back, "Look, they are your doubles. Armed exactly as you are, if you put your weapons down they won't attack."

He looked a little dubious, but apparently decided that anything was better than fighting an opponent he could not see. Quickly he laid his sword down in front of him, and the double stopped attacking. His shield followed and the double simply stood and waited.

Seeing this Leliana and Wynne quickly did the same, and their doubles matched mine. Our weapons abandoned the four of us proceeded from the room without further incident.

As we entered the next room there came a voice which said, "Andraste held faith in the Maker to see her through her troubles."

It faded and Alistair said, "Okay, what was that?"

Leliana shrugged, as did Wynne. I was busy looking at the path forward. More specifically, the lack thereof. Across from us was the room's exit, but there was a chasm in between. Alistair moved alongside me and asked, "How do you think we can get across?"

I didn't say anything, but instead lay down on the edge and looked over the edge. A moment later I sat up with a smile and said, "I think I know what this is?"

Leliana was the first to answer, "Oh really? How do we get across then?"

I smiled wider and said, "Like this," then stepped out into nothingness. Her eyes widened and she and Alistair tried to catch me, but there was no need. I stood upright over what they must have thought was Oblivion. Then with another little smile I explained, "there is a bridge, but it is narrow and was built to match the rock on the other side making it nearly invisible. I saw it in a movie."

Alistair blinked and said, "Okay that makes sense, mostly. How were you so sure though?"

I laughed and answered, "That's what the faith message was for. If you have faith that the Maker will catch you, you will step onto the bridge without a second thought." Then I added quietly, "Also they didn't think anyone would look at the bridge from another angle. Now pass me some dust or rocks will you. I want to make sure this bridge doesn't have any turns."

Wynne passed me a handful of pebbles and I tossed them out in front of me. They all impacted something solid so I took a breath, went down on all fours and began to crawl ahead, using my hands to make sure the bridge was actually there. The next several minutes were tense until finally I reached the other side and stood back up. Then I called back, "It's okay. Just come across slowly and it should be fine."

Alistair was the first across, moving slightly slower than I had. Leliana came next, going quite a bit faster. Then finally Wynne came, moving as quickly as she dared. We caught our breath afterwards, we hadn't even realized we were holding them at first before continuing.

Finally we entered a room with a small altar, a wall of flames, and the Urn at the top of a stairway. Alistair walked up to the altar and red from it, "Cast off the trappings of wordly life and cloak yourself in the goodness of spirit. King and slave, lord and beggar; be born anew in the Maker's sight."

He looked up and said, "I really hope that doesn't mean what I think it means."

I groaned and said, "Yes it does. I forgot about this part."

Leliana and Wynne looked down, obviously embarrassed. Finally Alistair said, "There's no way around this is there?"

I groaned again and shook my head, as Leliana, her face bright red, "No I doubt it."

"Right then," Alistair said. "Everyone look in away from each other, then we go across the fire at the same time with our eyes closed. Got it?" We all nodded then moved away from each other. Two minutes later everyone was undressed, with eyes closed and ready to move across the flames.

There was a tickling sensation as the we passed through the fire, and I clamped my eyes tighter to keep from seeing the flames that should have been burning me alive. Then, the sensation was gone and the Guardian was saying in our minds, "You have passed the challenge of the Gauntlet. Your faith is strong, approach the Ashes. You may take only a pinch each from this place."

The feeling of clothing returned and I risked opening an eye. As I had felt my armor was back on and I breathed a sigh of relief. Leliana opened hers next, then Alistair, and finally Wynne. Alistair laughed a little, then said, "Okay, let's not do this again."

There was no argument, instead Leliana was the first to approach the Urn. She knelt before it and said a prayer in Orlesian before taking a pinch of Ashes and putting it in a small bag. Wynne followed her and said her own prayer before taking a pinch for herself as well. Alistair was much faster. He made a short gesture before taking a pinch.

When my turn came I took a pinch immediately and let Alistair lead the way back through the Gauntlet. From the other direction the bridge over the chasm was obvious and none of the obstacles tried to block our way. We retrieved our weapons from the third chamber and finally arrived back where Morrigan, Alim, and Solona were waiting.

Morrigan was the first to ask, "So? Did you manage to get the Ashes?"

Alistair nodded, "Indeed we did."

She looked impressed and for once had nothing disparaging to say about our leader. If Alistair noticed he said nothing. Our group moved toward the exit and Alistair said quietly, "Okay, get out the way we came in. We can't afford the dragon waking up now."

As he opened the door I muttered to him, "Why did you have to say that?"


	15. Chapter 13

Chapter XIII

A group of almost thirty men stood waiting for us on the slope leading away from the resting place of the Urn. One of them stepped forward and shouted, "So, these are the trespassers who would turn us from the reborn Andraste. The outsiders who murdered Father Eirik and his guards. You will all die for your actions today.

Alistair called back, "Okay look, we aren't here to interfere with anything. We got what we wanted, and Eirik attacked us not the other way around. Let us go and there will be no further bloodshed."

The other man laughed, a dark sound which carried across the mountain, "Lies. You stand to turn us from our path. Now, you shall be judged by the Bride of the Maker, just as your guide has faced our judgement." So saying he picked up a mallet and moved to smash the gong next to him.

As he swung it I said loudly, "Run." Before any of the others could say anything I darted toward the place we had come in. I was halfway there before the gong sounded. Desperate to avoid what was to come I kept going, but there was a shadow above me and I threw myself down as the dragon flew overhead. There was a wave of heat overhead and the snow around me melted into my clothes. I glanced behind me to see the rest a little ways behind, all fine if a little shaken.

On looking the other way I found the dragon blocking the way forward. It roared first in rage at being woken up, then pain as an arrow slammed into its tongue. Leliana rushed forward, grabbed my hand and then we dashed back to where the rest of the group were preparing for to run from what should have been a suicidal battle.

Alistair ordered, "Okay, we have one chance to make it back into the Gauntlet. If we can get in we can hide until nightfall and then try to sneak out."

We nodded and sprinted back toward the Gauntlet, but as we did so there was another roar, a shadow passing above, and the dragon settled in front of the door. It threw its head back, then released a wave of flames. We dove for cover as the heat rushed overhead. It was horribly intense, snow melted, leaving bare rock underneath exposed.

The dragon took a step forward, preparing to kill the first of us when Morrigan threw up a hand and blasted it with a wave of ice. It slowed enough for Wynne to add her own ice to the attack and the dragon retreated under the barrage. A moment later Alim blasted electricity at it.

The high dragon trembled slighty, then let loose a burst of flames that headed straight for Morrigan and Wynne. Neither could react as the flames drew toward them, then were blocked by a shield Solona threw up around them. The woman stood still for a moment as she poured her power into maintaining the shield as Wynne and Morrigan escaped. As soon as they were out of danger Solona let the shield drop and went on one knee from the exertion.

Before the dragon could react Alistair brought his sword into the beast's wing, and sliced through the membrane. As his sword exited the wing the dragon tried to snap at him, only for Leliana to catch it in the eye with an arrow. From beside her I said, "good shot."

She smiled and said, a little embarrassed, "Actually, I was aiming for its neck."

I shrugged and said, "Then at least a lucky shot." With that I locked the cylinder of my revolver into place, then quickly prepared and fired. The pistol fired and a moment later the bullet ripped through the dragon's skin easily. I fired twice more before Leliana darted out toward new cover, I went in the other direction and the dragon turned to chase me, only to be caught by Morrigan and Wynne blasting ice onto its wings. It snapped at Wynne, and no one could respond as it took almost half of her chest off. There was no sound as our most senior, and almost certainly most powerful, mage fell.

The dragon swallowed, then snatched up the rest. We took the opportunity to back away draw back toward the cover of a group of ruins. After a moment the dragon finished its meal and turned back toward us. It tried to fly, or at least glide, only for the ice still coating its wings to send it crashing into the ground after only a few yards.

After a moment it pushed itself up and continued, completely unperturbed by the injuries it had sustained, against where we were waiting. The next minutes were filled with confusion and heat as the dragon tried to burn us out. Heat blazed off the rocks as the ruin started to turn into an oven, but Alistair refused to let us leave. Instead he had Morrigan do her best to keep the temperature down.

That tactic worked for a short time, but it was clear Morrigan was losing that fight. Instead I told her to focus on a single section of the back wall, not as hot as the rest of the stone, but good enough for my purposes. Morrigan rapidly complied, a rarity in most circumstances, and the stone wall at the back of the ruin shattered and collapsed. There was a shake from the remnant of the roof, but it held.

Alistair snapped, "Move people."

One by one we retreated, only to find ourselves pressed against a rock wall on the other side. The dragon, apparently realizing that we were trying to escape stuck its head inside the ruins to blast the area in one more burst of fire, only for Leliana to shoot its other eye before ducking out herself. The dragon screeched in pain, and thrashed madly as it went almost blind.

What happened next was… unexpected to say the least. The ruin had taken a beating even before it had a dragon go crazy inside it. The combined stress of the massive heat and a wall collapsing were too much, and when the dragon brushed against a pillar with a little too much force the entire building collapsed. The beast's head was crushed beneath the collapsing ruin. It thrashed for a few seconds as the body didn't quite process that it was dead before laying still.

Alistair was the first to walk out from the destroyed area. When he emerged from behind the pile of lizard and stone the cultists just stared at him. When Alistair called, "So, anyone else want to try," half the cultists fled in terror.

The rest stood in shock until finally Kolgrim, their leader, said in disbelief, "You killed her. You killed Andraste."

Alistair blinked, then looked at me as the rest of us followed him out. I sighed and explained quietly, "Basically these idiots convinced themselves that Andraste took the form of her greatest enemies gods for some reason. So, we just killed the center of their religion."

As Alistair processed it Kolgrim set one hand on the dead beast's flank, looking like a man who had just lost everything in his entire life, which he really had. The rest of the cultists stood dumbstruck and Alistair muttered, "Okay, on my mark, everyone sprint to the exit. Let's get out of here." He paused until no one was watching, then shouted, "GO!"

We turned and ran without hesitation. One or two cultists tried to give chase, only for Leliana to shoot them as the rest of us went back down into the mountain. We didn't stop until we came across Genitivi's crucified body at the entrance to the mountain. Alistair stopped us so he could say a few words for the man, but we didn't have time to do anything more as we could finally hear the cultists giving chase.

Without further pausing we ran for the village. The run took nearly twenty minutes, and as we entered the town twelve villagers attacked us with pitchforks, swords, knives, anything they could find. Morrigan made short work of six of them before going dry on power. Alim and Solona barely managed to summon enough power to blast one before they joined her. Leliana and Alistair moved against four of the rest, leaving me with one.

I am not a swordsman, at least not a very good one. I can kill a Hurlock anytime I face one, but only because darkspawn as a rule are horrible fighters (not counting Shreiks, Ogres, or Children of course), but against trained warriors I'm little more than a doorstop. That's today, after practicing off and on for years. Back then, back then I was outmatched by some insane villager.

When the man came at me, a howl of fury on his lips and a look of absolute hatred on his face I barely got my sword up in time to block the blow from his own weapon. My blade shook as the sheer force of the blow from his was transferred. Before I could do anything he brought the blade up and slashed across my chest with it. My coat was torn across the chest, but I survived as my chainmail took the blow. He brought his sword up over his head to try again, giving me an opening just large enough to stab my saber into his chest. The man let out a gasp as the blade penetrated one of his lungs, and his sword dropped out of his hand.

As he fell, I threw up again. Killing another human being is just about the worst experience I've ever had. Another person came at me, only to catch one of Leliana's daggers in his back. She grabbed the dagger from his hand then yelled, "We have to go."

I nodded weakly and ran after her. With cultists from the mountain hot on our heels, and the village starting to come out in force behind us we barely made it to the horses and were galloping away immediately. Alistair and Leliana rode like professionals, the rest of us held on for dear life. One mile after we left Alistair ordered us to slow the horses to a trot. Four hours later as the sun began going down Alistair called a halt and we started setting up camp in a secluded cave Leliana had found.

As the rest were unpacking Alistair pulled me aside to gather wood. As soon as we were outside he said, "Okay, the Ashes will work right?"

I nodded. "Without a doubt."

He looked back toward the town and asked, "How long will they be hunting us?"

I followed his gaze and answered, "I don't know. This wasn't supposed to happen. You were supposed to fight your way through the mountain and complete the Gauntlet, of course there was supposed to be another Warden too."

He looked a little puzzled, then asked, "Jory or Daveth?"

I shrugged, "Neither. Both of them were supposed to die. There was supposed to be a third recruit. Darrian, Alim, Solona, or one of four others we haven't met. A pair of dwarves, a human, or a Dalish elf. Duncan was supposed to find them before Ostagar."

Alistair looked thoughtful, then said, "Duncan said he was going somewhere to find another recruit, but the King called him down sooner than expected. He didn't have time to travel anywhere but Ostagar."

"That explains quite a bit," I said quietly. "Then the elf is dead, the dwarves are probably dead, the Cousland might have escaped though."

Alistair looked at me, then said, "There was one Cousland who was declared wanted for treason by Loghain before the battle, but I wasn't paying attention at the time really. Something about Arl Howe discovering a plot against Fereldan."

"Utter crap." I snapped. "The Couslands were betrayed and murdered by Arl Howe. If you're right then one of them might have survived, and if we could find them the Landsmeet will be a lot easier."

Alistair threw me a look, then said, "You talk like it was you he betrayed."

"It's complicated," I answered shortly.

He nodded, "Regardless, we are going to discuss your knowledge on the way back to Redcliffe."

I muttered darkly, but didn't argue.

Ten minutes later we made it back to the cave with large armfuls of firewood. No sooner than we were inside than Leliana met us and said, "We have a real problem."

Alistair groaned, but asked, "What is it now?"

She scowled, "We left the horse carrying most of our food behind." We still have the bedding and clothes, but we have half the food we'd expected."

There was not a happy face in sight when Alistair said, "Then we're on half rations until we get back to Redcliffe. Assuming nothing else goes wrong of course."


	16. Interlude 3

**This is another interlude like the ones in the Tower. The difference is this is a group of largely unconnected scenes of character interaction, and one major event from the game. Essentially, all of this happened, but doesn't in the narrative proper (if that makes any sense.)**

Interlude III

"So," Alistair asked as we crossed back onto the main road from the goat trail leading into the area Haven was in, "how do you know so much about the world?"

I looked away and asked back, "I'm not getting out of it this time am I?"

He shook his head, "Not a chance."

I sighed and said, "Then I guess I'll tell you part of the truth. I don't know the whole thing, so some of it will be guesswork. Basically, I'm from somewhere else. Another place, another time, who knows? I know so much because where I come from this," I gestured around, "has already happened. The Blight is over; Ferelden won, but was devastated by the darkspawn in the process; the Chantry is falling apart in the middle of a Mage revolt, Orlais is locked in Civil War, the Tevinters are regaining strength, basically everything was going completely wrong."

Alistair frowned, "You mean the future?"

"No," I said after a little thought, "More of a parallel world, one where amongst other things there are no darkspawn and magic doesn't exist. We have an… um… interactive theater type of thing where this scenario has already been played out."

"You mean where you live this is all some kind of play?" Alistair demanded incredulously. "How screwed up is your world that they think living in this one is an improvement."

I took a second to organize my thoughts before answering a little defensively, "It's not bad, it's not like we have danger around every corner like happens here. Do you know what would happen if a Darkspawn army appeared in my country? The army would wipe them out in a battle that would last maybe twenty minutes, depending on how quickly the get the planes fueled."

He blinked and finally said, "That's impossible."

I smiled and answered, "Is it really? More impossible than a person appearing out of thin air with knowledge of the future, but absolutely no survival skills. More impossible than a small piece of metal that killed a revenant. More impossible than walking through an ancient deathtrap filled with columns that stretch one hundred feet into the air and bottomless pits."

Alistair laughed a little at that before saying, "Okay maybe you have a point." Then his tone went a little more serious and he asked, "And how much of those advantages can you build for us."

"Absolutely none." I answered without hesitation. "I can give the basic principles and instructions to other people, but they'll have to work out the rest for themselves. A steam engine is useless without something to use it on after all. Hell, I can't even make the stainless steel I'd need to make new bullets for my pistol. Though," I added thoughtfully, "there are a few other possibilities for inventions now that I think about it. I'm going to have to talk to Owen in Redcliffe when we get back."

"Good," Alistair said immediately. He fell silent for a time, looking as if he was struggling with a question. Finally he asked, "So, I'm going to be king aren't I?"

I nodded, "Unless you want Anora to have you executed of course."

He laughed, "In that case I'll weigh my options."

I snorted back, then said more quietly, "There is one more thing you need to know, about the Blight." He turned serious again quickly, then I continued, "To kill the archdemon the Gray Warden who strikes the final blow must die."

"What?" He demanded incredulously.

I looked away, then said, "the archdemon's soul is tied to the Darkspawn. So long as it exists the Blight will go on. To destroy it a Gray Warden must strike the final blow and absorb the soul. Their taint will destroy it and the Blight will end."

Alistair finally said, "So that's why it took the Tevinters so long to stop the first Blight. Duncan always said he would tell me someday, but… I guess it just wasn't time. And there is no way out."

I hesitated before saying, "There is one, but it isn't my place to tell you what it is. When the person who has to go through with it as well is ready they will tell you."

He obviously didn't particularly like that answer, but didn't press the issue.

* * *

That night:

"You know, I sometimes like getting the first watch," Leliana said from her place near the fire.

I just muttered darkly back. I hated it personally. It was too noisy and after we'd both fallen asleep on watch the first few times she had started actively insisting neither one of us get any sleep.

"I'm serious," Leliana insisted, "We get to watch the stars come out and the best constellations rise and fall." She started pointing out constellations, but I couldn't see any of them. After a while she asked, "Which of your home's constellations do you see?"

I grimaced, "I don't. The stars where I live are… different."

She raised an eyebrow across the fire, "Oh? How do the stars change?"

I shrugged and lied, "I live in the northern hemisphere. The stars across the equator are different."

Leliana blinked, "What?"

I thought for a moment, then said, "Okay, think of it this way. The world is a sphere right."

She nodded, "Of course."

"Well then, divide it in half along the horizontal, got it." Again she nodded. "Well, I'm from the other side of that line. The line itself is called the equator. A hemisphere is half the world."

"Oh, okay." She said in comprehension. "And the stars here wouldn't be visible there." I nodded. Then she said, "So? What constellations are there and what are the stories behind them?"

I leaned backward against a tree and said, "I don't remember most of them, and there are myths behind them I really couldn't even scratch the surface of."

"Try." She answered."

I sighed and said, "Then I'll tell you the story of Heracles. First though you need the story of the gods and goddesses of Greece. It all began when Ouranus was killed by his son Kronus…"

The story went on for hours as she grilled me for little details, and I made up most of them. Finally though she was satisfied and said, "That seems like a really complicated religion. Do you follow it?"

I shook my head, "No. It went extinct about 2000 years ago where I live."

She perked up, "Well, what is the story behind you're beliefs then?"

I groaned, "No way am I telling you those stories tonight. It will take at least twice as long, and honestly won't be as interesting as what Zeus got up to."

She frowned, but didn't answer as Alistair and Solana came out from the camp to relieve us.

I settled into my bedding and started thinking of stories I could remember, and that I could actually tell without simply confusing the audience.

* * *

"Help me," a woman screamed. Alistair called a halt to our movement down the road, and a moment later a woman came around the corner, running as if her life depended on it. The woman saw us and said loudly, "Help me. Bandits came out of nowhere. Please, stop them."

Alistair dismounted and tied his horse to a nearby tree, motioning the rest of us to follow him. As I get close to him I whispered to him, "This is a trap. The woman works for the Crows."

Alistair nodded sharply to signal he had heard, then said to the woman, "Give us a moment and we'll be on our way." She smiled and started to wait in the knowledge her trap was working. Alistair quickly turned back and said to the rest, "This is a trap. Now, let's go spring it."

They nodded and prepared for combat. Without another word Alistair started after the woman. She led us around the turn and into one of the best-laid ambushes I've seen that didn't involve the Dalish or the Werewolf light infantry regiments. Wagons were scattered in a way that appeared bandit work, but actually cut off an easy path forward, there were traps scattered alongside both hills next to the site of the wreck that were almost impossible to see if you weren't looking, and the tree that fell to block our retreat was masterfully timed.

That was when the Crows learned why attacking a group that was half mages is a rather stupid idea. Before any of the Crows could move from their hiding places Leliana whirled, raised her bow and fired at a spot concealing three would-be assassins. Solona caught the cue and blasted the entire area with an enormous fireball. None of them ever even realized what had happened.

Morrigan and Alim blasted the ground in front of us, scouring it of wagons, traps, and people. The woman who had led us into a trap died alongside four others without realizing just how horribly their plan had gone.

As eight Crows lay dead the remaining three dropped all pretense at subtlety and charged at us, probably hoping to kill Alistair (we later learned he was the only actual target) before dying themselves. Leliana hit one in the throat with an arrow before he could make it four steps. Alim and Morrigan basically destroyed a second as their spells hit him at the same time. The final assassin, an elf, made it to Alistair, who contemptuously slammed his shield against the elf's face. He went down without another sound.

Anticlimactic fight much. An ambush you know about becomes an ambush in reverse. The Crows only would have had surprise on their side even had I not known they were waiting for us. In such a battle they would have been doomed victors at best, killing their target before falling to the avenging wrath of three very angry mages. The moral here is: don't mess with people who can shoot fire out of their fingers from very far away, or something like that.

None of the Crows survived our encounter. Alistair gave me the "we're going to discuss this later" look and he ordered, "Search them, we're almost out of food. Bring back whatever you can find."

Our hall was meager to say the least. Some hard bread, stale cheese, and salted beef. Regardless, the boost to our rations was considerable and that night we ate the first almost filling meal in days. After Leliana started telling her stories Alistair pulled me away and asked, "Who sent them?"

"Loghain," I answered immediately. "On Arl Howe's instructions he hired the Crows to kill you, the last Gray Warden and heir to the Ferelden throne."

Alistair's eyes narrowed and he said darkly, "Just another crime for him to pay for then."

I put one hand on his shoulder and said quietly, "You can't just kill him Alistair." He looked at me with righteous anger on his face before I continued, "Don't get me wrong he's going to die when we're done with him, but it has to be a certain way. He must die by the King's Justice for his crimes. Treason is just one of his many crimes. Amongst other things he was the cause of Uldred's attempt to take the Circle, he set Jowan on Redcliffe, he kidnapped and tortured Templars and political opponents, he enslaved Ferelden citizens to the Tevinters. Trust me, by the time the charges are finished being lined up you will be able to execute him."

He looked a little mollified, then asked, "Were you serious about Anora having me executed then?"

I nodded a little sadly, "Quite serious. Anora views you as a threat to her rule and will have you killed without any hesitation. Remember that."

Alistair nodded a little sadly, but didn't say anything more.

* * *

"We need to talk," Morrigan said flatly. It was the one day of the week we had to stand watch together, and she was easily my least favorite partner.

I raised an eyebrow, normally she hardly spoke to anyone except to belittle them, then asked, "Oh really? About what?"

She reached into her robes and pulled out a thin black book and said, "This. It is my mother's grimoire. I…found it."

"Where?" I asked, honestly curious since she couldn't possibly have gotten it in the Tower.

"That's not important." She answered shortly.

Her answer struck me as odd so I thought back and finally hit upon where I'd last seen a book like that, "You stole it from Solona didn't you? She practically emptied Irving's office when we cleared the Tower."

Morrigan scowled but answered, "Yes I stole it from her. I wasn't even looking for it honestly; just checking to see if she had anything I might want in that sack of books she carries around. It was in there, but that's not important. I found the secret to dear mother's immortality."

I nodded, "She steals the life force and/or bodies from her daughters to give herself eternal life."

"How could you possibly know that," Morrigan demanded.

I shrugged and said, "Various sources. I also happen to know why you have stayed with us, so you might want to start treating Alistair a little better if you want him to actually go along with it."

She shot me a look, then hissed, "How can you possibly know about that?"

I raised an eyebrow again and said, "Logical extrapolation of course. It stands to reason that if the archdemon's soul overwrites the Gray Warden then a child of a Warden would be able to destroy it without dying."

Morrigan muttered back, "No it doesn't. That doesn't make any sense at all in fact."

My answer was a simple, "that sounds dangerously like reasoned debate Morrigan. We don't hold with logical thinking around these parts."

She snorted and muttered, "That's obvious enough. Now, I need you to convince Alistair to kill Flemeth before she can come after me."

"Do it yourself," I answered in the closest I could manage to a cold voice. "He's the leader and he's the one you need to convince. I personally don't care one way or another."

She didn't speak to me again for the rest of the week, which was actually fairly normal.

* * *

"Okay," Leliana said excitedly, "You're going to teach me some of the music from your world."

I groaned and stopped humming, "Why? I suck at singing and most of the instruments required probably don't even exist."

"I don't care." She answered immediately, "Besides, I've heard hymns sung in the Chantry. Believe me, you can't possibly be worse."

I glared at her, then said, "Don't bet on it." Finally I said, "Fine, you asked for it." Then I launched into the worst rendition of _Here I am Lord _that had ever been sung.

By halfway through Leliana had her fingers in her ears and stopped me. "Okay," she said in defeat, "You really are awful. Have you ever sung before, at all?"

"Well, yes." I answered slowly, "Quietly, or lipsung when I really had to. But like I said, I suck."

"Well," Leliana said and excitement crept back into her voice, "I'm going to teach you to sing competently, or at least well enough so I don't want to gouge my ears off."

* * *

"Do you know what Morrigan asked me last night," Alistair demanded.

I thought for a second then answered, "To murder her mother in cold blood."

"No," Alistair answered, "She asked me to kill her…actually that was it. I forgot you'd already know. I assume I wasn't the first one she asked then."

I shook my head, "Nope. She asked me during our watch earlier this week. The reason she asked you is the same as the reason she isn't speaking to me." He looked a little puzzled so I added, "More not speaking to me than usual I mean."

"I honestly hadn't noticed," Alistair said. "So, what should we do?"

I thought then finally answered, "Flemeth can turn into a High Dragon, so we can't beat her in an actual battle. Though…" I thought carefully before finishing, "Leliana and I need to talk to Owen and Murdoch before I can tell you if we can try to fight her. We might have an excellent chance to try out a little toy we're going to be using against darkspawn."

"What is it?" Alistair asked.

I waggled a finger at him and answered, "Now Alistair, that would ruin the surprise wouldn't it."

He smiled sourly and answered, "Fine. But I'll want to see it if I'm supposed to be king."

I smiled a little wickedly and answered, "Don't worry Alistair, you will soon enough."


	17. Chapter 14

**Sorry for the late uploading as well as the short length. My teachers have really been stepping up how much work we are doing and I have had almost no time to write in the past month. The next update should come sooner (I hope) and will be quite a bit longer.**

**Also thanks to all those who reviewed, and if I didn't take the time to send you a message thanking you personally then I apologize.**

Chapter XIV

"Redcliffe," said Alistair in relief as we finally started on the road that branched down into the town.

Behind him I said quietly, "Hot food."

Leliana whispered longingly, "Actual beds."

Alim said in the same tone, "No midnight watches."

Slowly we rode the horses to the bridge leading into Redcliffe. There was a sentry In leather armor standing on the far side who saw who we were and saluted. Alistair waved back and we proceeded to the castle. It was a total mess. Soldiers from across the the areas loyal to Arl Eamon were camped inside, at least eight hundred men in total. We moved dismounted and handed the horses off to a group of servants who ran up to us and proceeded inside.

Darrian greeted us by saying immediately, "Did you find it?"

Alistair nodded and pulled out his pouch of Ashes. "Yes we did. Killed high dragon too." Darrian looked skeptical, so Alistair corrected himself, "Well it killed itself while we were nearby at least."

Darrian didn't look particularly convinced, but said, "Then let's try to wake the Arl." He turned and led the way upstairs where Lady Isolde was waiting at the sick man's bedside.

Isolde looked like she was about to collapse. She hadn't left her husband's side at all since we'd left and barely gotten any sleep. She sat up as we came in and asked quietly, "Did you find it?"

Alistair pulled out the pouch he was keeping his share of the Ashes in and held it up. Isolde's eyes widened and she bowed her head in the presence of something so holy. Alistair took quickly put the Ashes under the Arl's tongue and stepped back. For a moment nothing happened, then he groaned. Isolde was at his side immediately, saying, "Eamon, Eamon are you alright."

Arl Eamon sat up a little and said, "Isolde. What's going on? I could have sworn I was dreaming of Conner, then he was gone." He blinked and looked past her to see Alistair. The man's expression darkened for a moment, then he asked, "Alistair, have you finally forgiven me then?"

He got a nod as an answer and years of regret seemed to lift of his face. Then he noticed the rest of us trying to stand off in a corner and look invisible, something we were failing at magnificently. Finally Eamon asked, "And who are these people?"

Alistair smiled a little and said, "Well… you know how there's a Blight going on?" Eamon nodded. "This is the merry band of misfits who are helping me stop it."

Eamon carefully looed us over, then asked, "We're doomed aren't we?"

Alistair looked away and said, "If we don't get things moving soon we're going to lose this war. We need to take Loghain down as soon as possible. Though, we should probably leave and let you get dressed. Meet in the main hall in an hour?"

Eamon consented and we trooped out. Once outside Alistair said, "William go check on that little project you won't tell me about. Leliana go with him. They need your expertise for some reason."

I left and Leliana followed. Morrigan, Alim, and Solona scattered. Alim said something about arranging with Irving to give Wynne a funeral. As he left I thought back to it, and tried to feel sorrow for it, but ultimately failed.

In my time in Thedas I had personally killed multiple people, sealed the death warrants of others due to my silence and/or forgetfulness, and was helping the rightful king organize a war that would kill thousands more. While Wynne's death might have been closer to home than those it had still been someone I barely knew beyond my "premonitions." We had barely spoken to each other since the Tower. I was friends with Alistair and Leliana, but the others were at that point little more than coworkers. They hadn't been with us at the beginning, and were rarely involved in our discussions. So the impact of Wynne's sudden death was a lot less than it should have been, something I'm still not proud of. On the other hand, I got plenty of those moments over the next years, and feeling little sorrow over the death of one old woman who was basically dead already (long story) is not high on that list.

Those and similar thoughts went through my mind as Leliana and I proceeded down into the town. In front of the Chantry Murdoch and Owen had set up our little test cannon once they heard we had arrived. As we approached Murdoch asked, "Okay, so how does this thing work exactly?"

I told some nearby militiamen to turn the cannon pointing away from buldings and over the lake, then said, "Well basically it throws a ball of metal with the force generated by that powder."

He blinked and sad, "That sounds… dangerous."

"Oh it is," I assured him as Owen signaled for other militiamen to bring up some of the powder. We carefully loaded the cannon with the right amount of powder and prepared it to fire. Finally I ordered them all under cover, then pulled out my paper matches. I quickly lit the gun and sprinted for cover as well.

No sooner than I was behind it than the cannon went off. There was a massive roar as powder ignited. Cautiously we peeked over and saw the gun in ruins, it had shattered from the force. Leliana and Murdoch both said at the same time, "What just happened?"

I blinked and said, "There must have been a flaw in the design I gave Owen." Seeing their faces I protested, "What? I've never actually done this before."

Owen though just nodded thoughtfully, pulled out my drawing and my pencil, then started making a few changes. Finally he announced, "I know what went wrong. If I'd known what it was supposed to do I would have noticed them earlier. Give me a week, maybe two and I can have this rebuilt and with the flaws fixed."

"Seriously?" I asked, a little dumbstruck at how fast he had come up with a solution.

Owen nodded, "Of course. The principles are simple enough, I just didn't know what set of principles I was using. A few modifications and a new base should get this working right." He set some militiament working to clean up the mess, then happily went off to his shop.

Murdoch shook his head, "I'll never understand him. He's the best smith in the region while falling down drunk, and now he's sober he's a genius."

He turned to leave, but I called him back, then said, "No matter what Owen does we're never going to have enough of cannons," I motioned toward where the gun had been standing, "to use up a majority of our powder. I doubt we'll have more than twenty working models by the time we need them all things considered. So there are other things we can do with the powder. This is where she comes in." I motioned toward Leliana as I finished.

Leliana finally broke out of the shock of hearing a cannon go off for the first time and said, "I really don't think that would be a good idea."

I smiled a little and said, "Ah, but what we're going to be making is traps." Her face brightened a little too much at that. "We need you to design a container that will explode when stepped on using that powder." I explained.

Leliana's expression turned nasty as I finished, then she said, "That sounds fun." Immediately she went off to start working and Murdoch said, "Your group kind of scares me sometimes." I nodded, the same thought had crossed my mind more than once.

* * *

As Leliana started work I took the short walk back to Redcliffe Castle where Alistair was finishing telling Eamon the situation across the country. Eamon looked up as I settled in against a wall, then asked, "And who is this then?"

Alistair considered for a moment before answering, "Another Ostagar survivor."

Eamon looked me up and down, then said, "Looks kind of pathetic to me."

Alistair nodded, "Oh most definitely, also kind of slow on the uptake sometimes, but there he is very good at planning when we have time." I scowled at him, but didn't say anything.

Eamon settled down again and said finally, "Loghain instigates civil war while Darkspawn attack at the Darkspawn, its scarcely believable. Whatever happened to make him do so however he must be stopped. We cannot allow the war to continue, we will likely lose and even in the case of victory the Blight will overwhelm us."

Alistair nodded, "That's why we need you. The nobility must be united against him."

Eamon shook his head, "I could only unite those against him, but he most certainly has powerful backers who will be able to stand against us. Someone must surrender if the country is to have any hope against the Darkspawn."

Alistair thought and said, "A Landsmeet is our only option then. Which probably means you need me to stand forward as heir to the throne."

Eamon nodded sadly, "Yes we do. Someone with a stronger claim than Anora must step forward. Your claim is stronger than any other."

Alistair smiled darkly. "I understand. I hate it, but I will rule if that's the only way."

Eamon looked thoughtfully at his table then said, "We will need time to gather allies and recall forces for the Landsmeet. I suggest continuing to call up the treaties if possible."

I spoke up for the first time here, "Not good enough." They looked at me, Eamon in annoyance and Alistair with curiousity. "If the Civil War continues half of Fereldan will be overrun before we are ready. Fereldan's army must be ready to hold the Darkspawn in the south until we can finish preparations to kill the archdemon."

Eamon looked on the verge of rebuking me for speaking out of turn, but Alistair asked immediately, "You're sure?" I raised an eyebrow at him and he shrugged before saying, "Well you never know." He turned back to Eamon and said, "If he says it will happen then I would bet it will. The Landsmeet must be called as soon as possible."

Eamon looked rather curious, but said nothing. Instead he said, "I will try to speed the process along as much as possible. I suggest you deal with any business and be ready to move as soon as I'm ready. Even so it will probably take at least a month.

* * *

It was four hours later than Leliana came and found me to report she was done with her design. I have to say, it was ingenious. It used a pressure system that separated a slow-burning fuse from the powder which when stepped on would ignite the powder inside. It was fairly similar to some of the traps used by various assassins across Thedas already, but using gunpowder instead of lyrium sand; which made the whole design a lot safer. For those who don't remember the time lyrium sand was used, it had a bad habit of exploding for no discernible reason.

With the new weapon in hand we went to talk to Murdoch about building more. In the end all the practice we gave the city ultimately led to Redcliffe being home to the best powder makers in Fereldan even into he present.


	18. Interlude 4

Interlude IV

"Okay," said Alistair, "are you sure this will work?"

I glanced over the hill and nodded, "Of course I'm not sure. She's a freaking shapeshifter who is straight out of people's nightmares. For all I know she is completely immune to gunpowder and shrapnel. Now, do you want to fight her when she actually knows we are around and can fight back?"

He gulped, "No, not really. Though I still question the need for keeping on Morrigan's less evil side."

"You'll understand someday," I said, "but…"

"It's not your place to tell me why, I know," Alistair answered shortly. "That answer is really starting to get annoying."

"The lanterns inside just went off," Alim said suddenly from where he was lying slightly farther over. Solona confirmed half a second later.

I nodded, then set my stopwatch going. "Then we start down in an hour, plant the three mines and get back here until dawn. With luck, Flemeth won't know what hit her."

The next hour passed agonizingly slowly, with every noise sounding like the wingbeat of a High Dragon. Finally the time was up and we started sneaking down. Every couple of minutes we all stopped and listened in case Flemeth had noticed us.

Crossing the hundred yards to Flemth's hut took another half-hour but finally we arrived. Quickly we set to work. Using shovels we dug into the soft swamp ground and buried the mines. Leliana set about concealing them while the rest of us started creeping away. All told it took us two hours to make it back to our hiding spot.

When we had settled down to wait again Alistair asked, "Okay, I have a question. Shouldn't the ground have been half-frozen? It is the middle of winter afterall."

"She can turn into a dragon," I answered quietly.

There was a simultaneous gasp and Alistair hissed, "And you didn't feel the need to share this because…?"

"It wasn't important," I whispered back. "Plus I somehow doubt the area around Flemeth's house is going to follow reality by one hundred percent."

"What is a percent?" Leliana asked.

I thought about how to explain it, then quickly explained, "A certain value that says how often out of every 100 times that a certain event will happen."

Before she could keep asking Alistair muttered, "Be quiet. This will be a lot easier if she doesn't know we are here."

Silence lapsed again and the next hours passed slowly. As the sun started to rise Flemeth's door opened and the old woman stepped out to start her daily routine. For a moment she looked around as if she could see us, then stepped forward. A moment later there was a blast as the landmines went off. The old woman was killed immediately by the blast. She survived of course due to a certain precaution, but for now she was dead.

Alistair got up from his position and started down to her house. No one went with him.

Ten minutes later he returned with a small black book and we headed back to Redcliffe.


	19. Chapter 15

**Author's Note: Yay, the semester is over so I finally have time to write again. If my schedule stays empty, which it should, I will likely be able to get two more parts up by the end of the week.**

**Any questions or comments are appreciated Thank you for reading.**

Chapter XV

The next three weeks passed amazingly slowly. I spent most of the time working with Murdoch and Leliana on other uses of gunpowder as the second attempt to build a working cannon managed to destroy itself as well. Plus there was a little side-trip that lasted a little while, but we're not going to talk about that.

Regardless, Eamon managed to gather what allies he could remarkably quickly, as well as sending out word he was calling a Landsmeet.

Before the legal changes Alistair pushed down the nobility's throats some years later the Landsmeet was essentially a gathering place where nobles could effectively dethrone the King. When they tried that later of course they learned that a noble without peasants for his army is basically toothless. Having both teyrns and a quarter of the bannorn side against them likely didn't help.

The core theory of the Landsmeet was that if a king was bad enough he could be dethroned by the nobility and replaced. It hasn't ever been used successfully against an actual king, but I guess the theory was sound enough. There were hundreds of members of the Landsmeet theoretically, but most were basically powerless, or would side with their direct lord. The gathering had only about twenty votes that actually needed to be won, the two teyrns, the reigning monarch, the Chantry, the overall Templar Knight Commander, and fifteen especially powerful or rich arls and banns. One of Alistair's first moves was tripling the direct membership, a move I am proud to say was my idea (or rather Cornelius Sulla's idea, but no one else knows about him).

I digress however. The point is that Eamon's ability to call the Landsmeet so quickly was a statement to his ability as a leader. While he would have preferred to have more force behind our position he was ultimately loyal to Alistair even then. The trip to Denerim was short, relatively as the roads were still clear, and uneventful. No one complained about several extra days of boredom. The coming days would be a general return to panicked running around and danger.

Arl Eamon put us up in an estate he maintained in Denerim. It was relatively small and rather shabby having been unused for nearly a decade and maintained by a skeleton staff. We were divided into three groups were sleeping. Alim, Alistair, and I were put up in one room and Leliana, Morrigan, and Solona in the other. Darrian and Nesiara were snuck in under heavy disguise and hidden away at the back of the house. No one who wasn't involved in our planning was allowed to see them.

We had barely settled in when a servant appeared and said, "Teyrns Loghain and Howe here to see you my Lord."

Eamon nodded to her and said he would be down in a moment. I drew in a breath and said quietly, "So it begins."

Alistair sighed, "Indeed it does. Let's hope we didn't make a mistake coming here so quickly."

Eamon started out of the room and Alistair followed him. The rest of us waited for them to get out of sight, then snuck down to listen in.

We arrived as Loghain was saying, "…the man who would distract us from the darkspawn."

Eamon's voice answered flatly, "And you are the man who would plunge us into civil war while the archdemon stands ready to destroy us all."

"This is no Blight." Loghain snapped back. "The Warden's made that up to usurp power from the King."

"And yet it was the Wardens who were slaughtered nearly to the last man while you escaped unscathed," Alistair said, anger filling his voice.

Loghain ignored him. "Withdraw your call Eamon. I will assume control of all Fereldan's army and crush the darkspawn with no difficulty."

Eamon's coldly responded, "And then you will crush those who opposed your coup and repeat your previous assassination attempt. No Loghain, we will put a man of the Theirin bloodline on the throne, then the Blight will be dealt with by him."

There was no answer. Moments later there was a slam as Loghain and his guards exited. We quickly retreated back up the stairs. When Eamon and Alistair returned they both looked furious. Alistair was the first to say anything, "That filthy, traitorous bastard. I'm going to chop him into tiny pieces, repeatedly…" He continued on that train of thought for several minutes, proceeding to come up with really creative punishments. Finally he trailed off and Eamon asked, "Okay what should our next move be?"

I said finally, "We need to investigate the alienage."

Eamon looked a little confused and finally asked, "Why?"

"Because Loghain is using the plague as a cover to sell elves into slavery to the Tevinters," I answered flatly.

Eamon blinked, "Are you sure?" I nodded and he said, "That… that would be a huge piece of evidence to get him, if you're right of course."

Alistair said, "He is." Eamon looked questioningly and Alistair told him, "You don't want to know."

Eamon looked around and said, "Then get ready people. You're going to investigate the Alienage."

Thirty minutes later all seven of us were ready to move out. Eamon wished us luck and left us at the door to his home. Before we left Nesiara gave Darrian a cloak and pulled the hood up to keep as much of his face hidden as possible. Finally we opened the door, stepped outside… and ran straight into an elf dressed in relatively expensive looking clothing. She looked up in a panic, and then settled down when she saw who it was. "Oh thank goodness. I need to talk to the Arl now."

Alistair held up one hand and said, "Wait a moment. Why exactly do you need to see him?"

She panted out, "It's the queen. The Arl has kidnapped her."

Alistair blinked, then said, "Okay maybe you should come in then, but we'll be watching."

A minute later we had rushed back inside and up to Eamon's study. He looked up as we came in, but didn't say anything. Hurriedly Erlina explained, "They didn't realize you would be here so soon and hadn't had time to prepare. Howe thought Anora might be convinced to turn against her father, so he had her seized by his troops while Loghain was here arguing with you. Please, you must save her."

Finally Alistair asked, "Why?"

She looked up and said blankly, "What do you mean why?"

Alistair looked away and said, "If Anora isn't at the Landsmeet she won't be there to speak against us. This really isn't our problem in the end."

Eamon shook his head, "No she's right Alistair. We have to rescue the queen." Alistair looked at him questioningly and Eamon explained, "If she dies, or simply doesn't appear Loghain is going to accuse us of being the culprits. It will destroy our case. She might be convinced to side with us, but regardless she has to make an appearance."

Alistair looked like he was about to argue, but I interrupted, "He's right Alistair. Loghain will accuse us of kidnapping her if she doesn't appear. She has to be rescued."

He gave up and said, "Fine, we'll save the queen, but only after we've dealt with the alienage."

Erlina protested, and finally Eamon interrupted. "This is pointless. Alistair if we are really so concerned with helping the Alienage you can send someone else to deal with it while you go and save the queen yourself." I should note here that Eamon, while a good man always had his prejudices, and he dropped them a lot faster than a lot of others did after actually getting to know some of them.

Alistair agreed and led us out of the building again, with Erlina following to sneak the people going after Anora into the Arl's palace. Once outside Alistair turned back and said, "Okay slight change of plans. I will lead the group going into the Alienage. If these are Tevinters we're going to need as much anti-mage power we as we have. Leliana, you will be leading the rescue effort. William, Morrigan you will be going with her. Do you think that will be enough?"

Leliana looked at me with questioningly. I shrugged, "I really don't know. Later Howe would have a sizable guard force, but we might be here early enough that most of it can be avoided. We're entering uncharted ground here."

Alistair sighed, "Then it will have to be. If the slavers are Tevinters I'm going to need both Solana and Alim to fight them, and I doubt Darrian will agree to go with you instead of going home."

Erlina scowled, but stayed silent as we agreed to Alistair's plan. His group left to sneak into the Alienage, which apparently consisted of Solona working some magic and getting through the gate with a huge amount of noise and fire. So in other words the subtlety we became known for at its best.

Whatever she did, it drew away a lot of guards from our own attack. Erlina managed to sneak us through the city without being challenged at all, which was nice if a little disconcerting at times.

Our walk lasted well over three hours before Erlina pulled us up short and announced, "Howe doesn't want anyone to know anything is wrong yet, so you should be able to sneak in almost unopposed around the back."

I nodded, "How do we get inside though?"

"Kill the guards and take their uniforms," she answered flatly.

We were silent for a moment, then Leliana asked, "Won't people notice the blood on them? Or that they are too big for us?"

Erlina snorted, "Just tell them you were out mugging someone. It won't be that different from the thugs Howe's been hiring. As for armor size, that implies anyone fits into theirs. Howe's too cheap to buy fitted armor."

"Is it really that bad?" Leliana asked.

Erlina shrugged, "Not really. The last Arl didn't do much better. I think there was a quiet celebration when those elves murdered his son. I hear the guard captain privately wanted to give them a medal." No one answered as Erlina motioned forward, "Okay, that's the building. There's a servants entrance around back. I will be going through the front to draw attention away from you as much as possible. Hopefully I'll see you in a few minutes." She slipped away and went into the front door without anyone paying the slightest attention, after all in those days what was yet another elven servant, a mistake the Orlesians made a time or two when we fought them.

Leliana watched her go, then turned and ordered us to start moving around the building. She led the way, sneaking along the building for a short way before holding up a hand to stop us. Quietly Leliana unslung her bow, notched an arrow, glanced around a corner to a balcony, then smoothly whirled out, raised the bow, and fired. There was a short cry of pain and Leliana dashed out, quickly climbed up onto a balcony, and slashed the throat of a guard who had been watching the area.

Finally she came back into view and motioned for us to keep going. Leliana always scared me a little to be honest. The pathway led around the building from there, but without any more convenient guard positions if someone happened to be, say sneaking around and hugging the building.

Eventually the path led into a small (relatively) palace garden. Normally the area would be grown up with the various vegetables that fed a noble family, but it was the middle of winter right now, so instead it was just an open area that had a nice little privacy wall blocking the castle from seeing the other side. From there it was a quick sprint across to the back entrance of the castle. Leliana slowly opened it, then stepped inside.

The first room was an empty storage area, which then led into a room where a small group of guards were playing cards. Morrigan motioned for Leliana and me to stay put, then walked up to them.

One of the guards looked up at her, and his mouth fell open when he saw what she was wearing. The rest followed suit and one asked, "You must be mighty cold in that darling, mind if I warm you up."

Morrigan smiled darkly at him and answered flatly, "No, I can't say I am very cold. Well, relative to you at least." She threw her hand up, and blasted them with a wave of ice into their faces.

They were all dead within seconds. Quickly the three of us stripped a guard, and put their armor on, Leliana and I had left our own back at Eamon's estate. After a few minutes Leliana said, "This is really low quality."

I glanced down at mine; it looked like metal rings to me, and asked, "How so?"

She pulled on it a little then said, "The rings are wrong, they leave too many gaps in the protection, and it isn't heavy enough. Proper mail should weigh ten pounds heavier than this. I doubt its much protection against much of anything. Let's just hope we don't have to do too much fighting in this."

I nodded, it had seemed lighter than the normal stuff, but I didn't know enough about armor then (or now for that matter) to tell the difference. Morrigan though asked sharply, "This weighs less than it's supposed to? How do you people get around with all this extra weight?"

Before anyone could answer Erlina poked her head through another door. Seeing us she came inside and quickly shut it behind her. "Good you made it. I wasn't sure how long it might take. Now, we need to get moving, but there is a problem. Howe seems to have sealed the Queen's room with magic. She says that to get her out we're going to have to find the wizard who did it and make him lift the spell, or kill him."

Leliana groaned and muttered, "It never just rains does it?" And honestly I agreed with her, I probably should have remembered that detail, but a combination of slightly fading memories and hoping it would be different since we were here early had set in. Finally Leliana asked, "And where might this wizard be?"

Erlina gulped, then whispered, "The dungeons apparently. Howe has some new prisoners he's attending to. You're going to have to get down there. I can point you, but I'm not coming."

Leliana nodded and answered, "That's fine."

Erlina smiled a little grimly then started a march through the castle. Here I can't really say where we went, as I wasn't really paying any attention. Finally though Erlina stopped and whispered, "This room is the Queen's. If you keep going to the end of the hall you will get to Howe's room, from there the entrance to the dungeons will be pretty obvious."

Without another word she settled in near the Queen's door to wait.

Leliana groaned and led us away. The walk to Howe's quarters was thankfully uneventful. We opened the, unguarded, door and went inside without a moment's hesitation. The room was… incredibly barren. It had multiple rooms, punctuated by an occasional chair, desk, and even a bookshelf, but other than that it was almost empty. What did strike my attention was the fact that there was an entrance to the dungeons in the Arl's room, says quite a bit about the old order when you think about it. When we rebuilt the palace after the first one's destruction that was one of many features we left out.

Our entrance to the dungeons was immediately noticed by a guard standing near a cell. He looked up and was almost instantly grabbed from behind and slammed into the cell door, before being stabbed by his own dagger in the back. As he fell an arm came out, and grabbed his keys, before the cell swung open to reveal a man in dirty clothes. He looked up and asked, "Thank you. I was wondering how much longer I would have to rot in that cell."

Leliana looked him up and down before asking, "Who are you?"

He bowed and answered, "I am Riordan. Senior Grey Warden of Jader, and who might you be?"

Leliana dodged the question by saying, "We are working with Alistair, the last Grey Warden in Ferelden."

Riordan raised an eyebrow, "How fortunate. What are you doing here though?"

Leliana answered after a little thought, "Trying to save the queen while Alistair works on other projects. Now, we need to be going before the guards we killed are found."

Riordan nodded, then grabbed the body of the guard he had killed, "Right. Give me a second and I will join you. Howe's only had me for a little over a week."

Leliana smiled and answered, "We're glad to take all the help we can get. We'll be waiting down below." She turned and started down the staircase to the dungeons. Riordan caught up at the bottom and Leliana said, "Okay, we're all here. I don't know what might be waiting on the other side of this door, but be on your guard."

She pushed the door open and stepped through, only to duck back in as two crossbow bolts slammed into the door where she had just been. With a quick move Leliana nocked an arrow, and shot back. There was a cry of pain, then Leliana charged out. Riordan followed after glancing out. Morrigan and I glanced at each other, and then she shoved me out the door after them.

"There's a tripwire in front of you," Leliana called from across the room where she was dueling a pair of guards with her daggers. I glanced down, then carefully stepped over it. When I looked up one of the guards who had been fighting Leliana was coming at me. He didn't make it very far. Leliana stabbed her opponent repeatedly now that she didn't have to divide her attentions, then whirled and threw a dagger at the other one's back.

We couldn't go farther though as a group of six archers at the end of the hall shot at us. Riordan barely knocked one away with his sword before getting behind a wall. Leliana whirled out with her bow raised, and got off a blind shot that completely missed before ducking back again. As she did so she said darkly, "One of them is going for reinforcements. We need to finish this now."

Surprisingly it was Morrigan who strode forward. As she did so she began to change, growing larger until in her place stood a massive bear. With a growl she charged forward, trusting the bear's bulk and fur to protect her. She smashed into the archers before they realized what was going on. The fight lasted less than minute before they all lay dead.

Leliana whistled, "Impressive. Now, let's get going."

Our trip through the dungeons was horrific. Every room was filled with scenes of just how sick Howe really was. Corpses lined rooms of political enemies that had been killed. Some showed signs of being remodeled to house soldiers, but the sheer horror distracted from that.

It wasn't until nearly half a dozen rooms had been checked that we found the first live prisoners. Two men were hanging in a gibbet, and a pair of racks were being set up by torturers nearby. No one hesitated. Leliana shot one before charging a second with her daggers. Riordan drew away two more, and Morrigan began preparing to finish off three others. The last torturer came at me.

I had learned rather valuable lessons in the months since my arrival, and so drawing my sword went smoothly. Unfortunately he had a hammer rather than another sword. His weapon came down toward me, and like an idiot I tried to block it. For my trouble my saber was nocked aside with barely any effort on his part. Before he could swing again I ducked backwards and tried to think of some new strategy, preferably one where someone else had to fight.

The solution came rather accidentally as he swung his hammer and I managed to kick him in the knee. He stumbled for a moment, and his hammer left his grasp. I tried to grab my sword, but he just tackled me and we started to grapple, by which I mean I was easily defeated. Salvation came (as usual) in the form of outside assistance. Morrigan blasted his face with ice and I managed to shove his corpse off.

Around me the fight was over. Leliana was nursing a cut finger, probably inflicted on herself by accident. Riordan had taken a blow to the leg that his armor had, rather miraculously considering its quality, blocked. Morrigan was basically unscathed. Finally Leliana picked the keys off one of the guards and let the two men out. The first one stood tall and asked, "Did my father finally send someone?"

Leliana raised an eyebrow, "Um… no. I don't know who you are in fact."

He sighed, "My name is Oswyn son of Bann Sighard. I guess if what you are saying is true my father doesn't know where I went. We came to the city for the Landsmeet and I went looking for a friend who disappeared. I got ambushed by some thugs one night and woke up here a few days ago."

The other man laughed darkly, "So yet another falls into Howe's traps. I am Aedan Cousland, currently the likely rightful teyrn of Highever. Howe killed my family and I snuck in to try to kill him. I was less than successful. Now, why are you here?"

Leliana shrugged, "Trying to gather the nobles of the land so we can retake the throne and stop the Blight."

Next to her I added with a little extra cheer, "And save Christmas." For that remark I got a lot of blank looks. Finally I muttered, "Never mind, back home people would have gotten it."

"Anyway," said Aedan, "I assume that killing Howe is on your list of priorities."

Leliana nodded, "It wasn't when we came in, but after seeing this I think I can add it without much hesitation."

Aedan grinned savagely, "Good. Then let's go make the bastard suffer."

Oswyn needed no encouragement to go after the man who kidnapped him, so he and Aedan quickly donned the armor of those who had been preparing to torture them and joined our happy little band of psychopaths.

The rest of our trip through the dungeon was highly enlightening. There were over two dozen people who had obviously been tortured to death scattered throughout, and six torturers who found themselves cut down without mercy when Leliana or Aedan found them. After what felt like hours of being exposed to a face of evil we finally came upon a room where Howe's voice could be heard. He was lecturing some prisoner, and promising a horrible death.

Before there was time for a battle plan or even a little reconnaissance Aedan kicked the door in and charged at the Arl.

Two mages whirled when he came in, one caught a dagger thrown by Leliana in the chest before he could do anything, but the other successfully shapeshifted himself into a bear. Before he could do anything else though Morrigan slammed into him in her own form and the two began to fight. Leliana managed to get her remaining dagger up when a soldier charged at her. Riordan was drawn into combat with a second soldier, leaving the final man to me. This one was armed with a sword which I was not, quite, as incompetent against, so I met his blade with my own. The first few passes told me everything I ever needed to know about the quality of Howe's troops. This guy was bad, really bad. Which still made him slightly better than me. Our blades clashed again and again, but it was obvious who was going to win. Then he slipped up. There was a pool of blood forming where the mage had died. The guard slipped in it. The move would have been corrected quickly, but I stabbed him in the shoulder before he could. His sword fell to the ground, and I finished him, feeling sick the whole time. Around me the other duels were coming to a close. Leliana had opened the throat of her opponent with a well-aimed dagger slash. Riordan had stabbed his opponent in the heart, Morrigan had a bloody mouth from where she had bitten her opponent, and Oswyn was throwing up. Poor Oswyn, he always had a worse time with blood than I do, which is saying a lot.

The only battle still going was that between Aedan and Howe, neither seemed to be able to gain the upper hand, until Leliana tossed a rock at Howe's back. The man cried in a moment of pain, then another as Aedan stabbed him. He fell to the ground and Aedan stabbed him again, a look of fury on his face. Howe fell backwards and managed to gasp out, "I deserved more…"

Aedan whispered, "Yes, you did you little bastard."

Howe never heard him.

Finally I looked up at the man they had been talking to and he asked, "I don't suppose you are actually real are you?"

I nodded, "Yes we are. Who are you?"

He looked down, "I am Irmiric, a Templar who failed in his duty. We had cornered the blood mage Jowan, but Loghain's men stepped in to save him. My entire company was slain and I was taken prisoner months ago. Howe was trying to convince me to tell the Landsmeet Eamon sheltered a blood mage in exchange for freedom. He was going to kill me if I refused. But now he's dead. I suppose the Maker might well have sent you."

I smiled and said, "Perhaps. Will you testify against Loghain at the Landsmeet?"

His eyes brightened, "Of course. If I can find my sister beforehand I will speak to her on your behalf as well."

Behind me Oswyn said, "I will be going to look for my father now that we're done here. They all gather in the same tavern in the evenings to discuss matters of state. We can probably find your sister there."

Irmiric nodded. "Then we will go and talk to them, and afterwards come to the estate of Arl Eamon to discuss when you would like us to speak."

The pair turned and left afterwards.

As they left Leliana said, "Well with the mage dead we should be able to free the queen now. Let's get going."

There was no argument.

We quickly went back through the dungeons and ascended into the Arl's bedroom, then down the hallway to the Queen's room. She was standing outside waiting for us, in a guard uniform.

Aedan raised an eyebrow and whispered, "Well she doesn't look inconspicuous at all."

Leliana and I fought down laughter because he had a point. Anora held herself with the poise of someone used to being obeyed. For a guard she looked absolutely ridiculous. As we approached she did a small curtsy, and nearly fell over. Finally she said, "It's good to meet my rescuers face to face at last, though you seem to be more numerous than Erlina described. Now, shall we be going?"

We fell in step behind her and Anora marched toward the front door as if no one in Thedas had any right to stop her. The people waiting for us obviously had different ideas.

There were twenty soldiers waiting for us, led by a woman whose face said that she was going to put up with absolutely no nonsense. The soldiers all had a similar expression. These were not the armed thugs of Howe's palace guard, but rather the elite soldiers of Loghain's household themselves, led by Ser Cauthrien, probably the most deadly knight of her generation.

As we entered the entrance hall Cauthrien stepped forward and announced in a loud voice, "The seven of you are under arrest. Drop your weapons now and you will not be harmed."

We glanced at each other, but the truth was obvious. We were outnumbered three to one, and this was not a fight we could win. Leliana went first, dropping her daggers and bow. The rest of us followed suit, including Anora. Behind us Erlina slipped away, but no one else had the opportunity. As we were led away one of Cauthrien's soldiers remarked, "This one here almost looks like the queen."

Cauthrien ordered him to be silent before marching the column out.


	20. Chapter 16

**Author's Note: Okay, this is up a couple days later than I expected, but here it is. I was halfway through the next part of the story when I realized this chapter needed to come first.**

Chapter XVI

Cauthrien marched us through Denerim without further ceremony, no questioning, not even bothering to find out who we were. In the end she didn't particularly care. Cauthrien was a blind loyalist to Loghain's regime, and in her mind there was no doubt that we were criminals. A short note, next time you break into a noble's household in order to murder him, free his prisoners, and rescue the queen, make sure to hide the bodies of guards you kill a bit more effectively than the brilliant plan of just leave them there in the open.

Shortly after being led away from the Arl's palace Riordan executed an escape plan. He was near the rear of the column, well away from Cauthrien herself so with a quick move he kicked the soldier next to him in the gut. The man wheezed and doubled over before Riordan punched another man. Then he sprinted away. Cauthrien was after him almost immediately, as were three guards but their heavier armor let Riordan get far enough ahead that he managed to slip away.

Cauthrien came back swearing and she ordered than any other escape attempt should be met with swords immediately. None of us tried anything.

We were taken to Fort Drakon and led inside. The entire walk went by in a blur of sameness for me, but when I glanced at Leliana her eyes were darting around to see the fortress's defenses. Cauthrien handed us off to the commander of the fortress who had us thrown into cells in the deepest portion of the building.

Fort Drakon, for those who have never seen the illustrations that are all that remains of the original building after the siege of Denerim years later, was originally a tower built by the Tevinter Imperium before the city was founded. It was basically a massive tower hundreds of feet high, and with dungeons running four floors down. We were at the very bottom.

There were only a small number of cells available, which resulted in Aedan and me getting stuck in one while Leliana, Morrigan, and Anora were shoved into the other. Our armor and weapons were confiscated and locked away in the armory five floors up.

When the extra guards had left, leaving only three, Leliana hissed through the bars, "Are you two okay?"

I nodded, "We're fine, but what do we do now?"

She smirked, "I can get this door open in no time, but what then? We can't overpower the entire fortress."

I leaned back and said shortly, "If only we had a wheelbarrow."

She thought for a moment then said, "What?"

"Sorry, nothing." I answered. "I don't suppose there's anything Morrigan could do?"

Leliana glanced back and whispered the question. A minute later she looked back and said, "That would be a negative. If we had a day or two to let her rebuild her power supplies it would be fine, but something tells me that when they find Howe's body we won't have that long."

From beside me Aedan whispered, "One of you could try seducing the guards."

Leliana gave him a dark look. "I hate it when that's suggested, I really do."

He answered, "Do you have a better idea?"

She scowled, "No, and I really wish I did. Fine, but you two owe me."

Leliana walked away from the cell and said in the most seductive voice she could manage under the circumstances, "Excuse me sers, we are getting lonely in here and we just happened to notice that there are three of you."

The three guards got up from where they had been playing cards and one of them said, "Oh is that so."

Morrigan started to tell them exactly what exactly they could do with themselves, but Anora stomped on her foot and said, "Oh yes sers."

Another answered, "Well boys I think we can help them, don't you."

The other two leered, then one opened the door, and Leliana punched him in the face. Before the other two could raise the alarm she tripped one of them and kicked the third. A minute later she had knocked them all unconscious with one of her little skills. Morrigan drew a sword and started to stab one of them when Anora caught her arm. "No. Killing them is going to make the job we have to do after this even harder than it already is. Take their uniforms and leave them here. No one will hear them until shift change in a little over an hour. Now, let's go."

We took their uniforms and Leliana, Aedan, and I put them on. We led the way out of the room and onto the third floor. Two more guards waited there, and they were swiftly dispatched by one of Leliana's little tricks. Their uniforms were quickly put on by Morrigan and Anora. We had no more trouble getting up to the ground floor, but Anora vetoed any notion of getting our actual stuff from the floor above.

Instead he directed us to the commander's office. The guard outside brightened when we approached and said, "Oh good. You all must be the first of our latest batch of recruits." He circled for a minute then said a little more happily, "At least you look better than the last group Howe sent to us."

Anora answered smoothly, "Yes ser. That's right."

He circled for a minute then said a little more happily, "At least you look better than the last group Howe sent to us. Now you need to collect regulation swords from this floor's armory and meet up with the soldier's you will be working with in the first month in the storeroom. They aren't much more experienced than you, so there shouldn't be any problem. Report back here when you are settled in."

Aedan and Anora snapped to attention followed a second later by Leliana and I, Morrigan did so at the last minute. Without another word Anora led us off. As we left Leliana whispered, "How do you know so much about this place?"

Anora smiled a little, "I had to sign off on this place's security arrangements. I know it very well. The armory should be down this way." She turned and started walking away. The hallway twisted around until Anora stopped at a door and said, "This is it. Now, leave the talking to me."

She marched in, walked up to the quartermaster and said, "The colonel wants us issued regulation weapons immediately."

The quartermaster looked up from his ledger and said, "Oh really? Well, that's what the last group said. Tell me, are you here to pass the swords along to those idiots who ruined the potatoes?"

As he said that I leaned over to Leliana and whispered, "This country has potatoes?"

She glanced over and said, "Yeah, they aren't commonly grown, but not exactly rare either."

I had almost no time to think about that little revelation, and the future possibilities that would come from it when Anora said, more gently, "Of course not. The colonel simply wants us issued swords so we can meet up with another new group of soldiers."

The quartermaster nodded, "Okay, the group you're talking about are the ones who ruined my week. I'll give you weapons, but I'm not issuing swords to them."

He turned and picked up five blades and handed them over. As he did so Aedan asked, "Why exactly do we need swords now exactly?"

The quartermaster scowled, "The colonel wants you to go on patrol with them," he said the word darkly.

Aedan nodded, "So in other words you won't send the men who screwed up on a mission that could get them killed in painful, slow, and horrific ways."

The quartermaster thought about that for a second, then brightened, and passed on another bunch of swords. "Good point. Remember, if you run into any trouble let them handle it."

Aedan smiled, "Don't worry, we will."

We were waved out of the armory, and got a passing comment, "I don't suppose there's a way to make them forget their armor is there?"

We laughed and followed Anora to the main storeroom, where four soldiers were stacking crates. They failed to notice our entrance until Anora cleared her throat. One of them looked up and said, "Oh, you're finally here. We were worried your squad got caught up in that Alienage mess a few hours ago."

Anora was about to ask what he was talking about when Leliana said, "We were, but managed to get out before everything went really bad, but were slowed down because of it."

The man who had spoken nodded, "Well good to know. We're supposed to be going on patrol, but the quartermaster's assistant in the armory won't give us our swords. Until we get them we can't go anywhere."

Aedan held up the extra swords and said, "We already got them for you."

The four soldiers took them and the leader said, "Oh great. We sort of put the wrong potatoes at the front of the storeroom and half of them went bad before they could be used. The quartermaster got a tongue lashing from the quartermaster, who took it out on the assistant, who was taking it out on us. Now, help us finish stacking these and we'll be starting on patrol."

We groaned, but started helping.

Ten minutes later the last crates were in place and one of the soldiers said, "Okay. You can lead the way to the colonel."

Anora easily took the lead. We fell in line behind her and Leliana whispered, "I wonder what was going on at the Alienage."

I shrugged and said, "No idea, but if that noise when we set out is any indication Alistair gave Solona and Alim permission to go nuts."

She nodded, "Okay, but still how much damage could they really do?"

I didn't answer, but went back to thinking about potatoes. Anora's march back to the colonel's office took a few minutes, but we were let in.

The colonel looked up as our group entered and stood. "Ah good you're all here. First, let me welcome the five new soldiers to our garrison. Now remember, you are no longer in the service of Howe. I won't put up with any crap on this job got it."

Anora and Aedan answered immediately, "Yes ser." A moment later Leliana, Morrigan and I did the same.

He stepped closer and said, "I don't think I was clear enough. Howe might not enforce order on his guards but I'm going to." He shot a look at me and asked, "Soldier, what is the most important virtue of any soldier?"

I blinked and guessed, "Obedience sir."

He nodded a little, "Closer than I expected from one of Howe's thugs. The right answer is discipline soldier. Remember that and we will have no problems. Now, stand up straight."

I tried to, but couldn't quite manage. The colonel didn't notice, instead he started critiquing the others. Finally the colonel returned to his original position and said, "Now soldiers, you will be patrolling the area around the fortress and royal palace. Under no circumstances are you to approach the Arl's home or Alienage."

We saluted and said, "Yes ser."

He nodded and said, "You're dismissed."

We filed out and let Anora lead the way to the exit from the main portion of the fortress. As we approached the door one of the guards asked, "Password?"

Anora thought for a second before one of the other soldiers said, "Rabbits."

The guard smiled and said, "Good luck on your first patrol soldiers."

We thanked them and went through into a defensive point, with ballistae…

I looked at them and asked, "Why?"

Anora snorted and answered, "Arl Howe. He thought it would be a wonderful idea to guard a hallway with ballistae. I'm taking them down as soon as this is over."

Several minutes passed before we could exit the entire fortress. As Anora opened the front door to leave warning drums sounded and she said, "They've found the guards we dumped. We need to run."

Without a backward glance or word the five of us broke into a run, leaving the other four men behind. We ran for five minutes before Anora ordered us to duck behind some cover and wait to see if there was any pursuit. Tense minutes passed before she announced that we were safe and our passage back to Eamon's house progressed.

Our arrival was a massive relief to everyone inside. Riordan had arrived half an hour before us and Alistair was in the process of plotting a rescue attempt. When we walked in he smiled and asked, "How did you all escape?"

We started in on a harrowing tale of daring where many guards were incapacitated, heroic deeds were done, and it all ended with a heroic last charge out the door and street to street fighting. At the end he asked, "You snuck out didn't you."

Sullenly Leliana asked, "Couldn't you at least have pretended to believe us?"

Alistair laughed, "Well probably, but it still wouldn't have been as heroic as what we just went through. He started to tell the story when Anora cut in and said, "I'm sure this is all very fascinating, but can we get to the matter at hand? My father needs to be curtailed and we need to discuss doing exactly that. First, I want to know what really happened at Ostagar."

Alistair glanced at me, then asked everyone except for Riordan, Eamon, and me to please leave so we could discuss it. They complied and he explained what had happened starting with the battle plan. "Essentially Anora the plan was that Loghain was waiting to hit the flank of the darkspawn when we signaled from the Tower of Ishal. The King viewed that as the most important task, so he asked Duncan to send a Grey Warden to do it and I was selected. We fought our way to the top against a darkspawn force that had tunneled in and lit the beacon. However, instead of attacking Loghain retreated, leaving the King's army and the Wardens to die. We were ambushed by darkspawn shortly thereafter and barely managed to fight our way of the tower, leaving behind the brave men who had helped us reach the top in the first place. By the time we started out the darkspawn had retreated to regroup."

Anora thought about it and finally said, "I believe you. My father's account didn't make sense, but yours fits with other facts I've established. That said, he is a hero and I will not stand for him to be charged with treason as you seem to want. My father will be pushed into retirement, but we will not reveal any of this."

Alistair started to answer when I elbowed him. He shut up as I said, "We can agree to that. Now, what exactly can you give us in exchange?"

Anora smiled a little and said, "You will back me as queen and in exchange I will speak on your behalf at the Landsmeet. I am very popular with the nobility and my support will sway many to your side. Do we have an agreement?"

Before either Eamon or Alistair could say anything I extended a hand and said, "Deal."

Anora looked confused by the term, but shook my hand and said, "Good. Now I must retire. It has been a tiring day. I expect a room has been made ready?"

Eamon blinked and answered automatically, "Of course. We had no further guest rooms but I have arranged for a secondary portion of the estate to be prepared as temporary lodging."

Anora smiled and left.

As soon as she was gone both Eamon and Alistair whirled on me. "What exactly do you think you are doing?" Eamon demanded. "We are backing Alistair for the throne. He is of the Theirin bloodline, the throne is his."

Alistair for his part demanded, "What do you mean Loghain will retire a hero? I mean to have his head before this is over."

When the pair stopped for breath I raised a hand for silence and said quietly. "We need Anora's support. I guaranteed both those things so she would speak on our behalf, but I happen to agree with the two of you. Alistair is going to be king and Loghain is a traitor. That doesn't mean we need to let Anora know that."

Alistair leaned back in his chair and said, "Is this one of Those things?"

I glanced at him and said, "If you mean my information then yes. We will almost certainly lose if Anora stands against us."

Eamon leaned forward and said, "What information is this?"

Alistair thought for a moment before saying, "We have sources on how some of the nobles are leaning. Now, tell us exactly what happened today."

I quickly ran through the details of what had happened when a servant came in with a piece of vellum. He wordlessly handed it to Eamon and ducked out of the room.

Eamon opened it up and laughed, then said. "It's a note from Bann Sighard. He is swearing to stand with us at the Landsmeet. Apparently Bann Alfstanna plans to do the same, and they will be discussing Howe's actions with other voting nobles and the Chantry. We might actually win this."

Alistair smiled and nodded, then stood and asked me to come with him. I followed, a little curious, and once we were out of earshot he said, "Now, what else do we need to do to win the Landsmeet?"

I thought then asked, "How much vellum, parchment, or paper do we have?"

He shrugged then answered, "Quite a bit, why?"

I smiled and said, "I think we need to go over what everyone needs to say actually. Especially you."

Alistair raised an eyebrow and asked, "Why me?"

"Because you have to do the vast majority of the talking Alistair. You are the one who will be king, best to start acting like it now." I answered.

He scowled. "Damn. I really hate speaking."

"I laughed a little. "Everyone does, don't worry. The Landsmeet isn't for another few days and we'll have plenty of time to practice your speeches. Now, while I'm writing out what needs to be said you can fill me in on what happened in the Alienage. We've heard some interesting rumors, but what actually happened?"


End file.
